Time trouble
by BreathlessBreathing
Summary: Artemis' time travelling project goes awry before it even starts. He ends up in a time far from his own. Here he discovers an entire branch of untapped magic – dragons. But who made Artemis time travel? And how can Artemis return?
1. Problems

First story I have ever published, this is a crossover between Artemis Fowl following the events of The Fifth Colony (I decided it could be cool if Artemis had some magic ) and HTTYD. No one else seems to have tried this particular combination and I wanted to see if it could work (besides, I was bored out of my mind with schoolwork and decided to do something fun in between homework). I hope you enjoy this introductory chapter.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. Wow, it feels weird writing a disclaimer, but hey, got to get used to it if I don't want a lawsuit or something hanging over my head. Trust me I don't. I own the plot though .

**Basic premise:**

Artemis' time travelling project goes awry before it even starts. He ends up in a time far from his own. Here he discovers an entire branch of untapped magic – dragons. But who made Artemis time travel? And how can Artemis return?

Act 1: Past

Chapter One: Problems

Artemis Fowl II had two problems. The first problem was a simple one, the second… not so simple. His first problem was his inability to make any sort of progress with the twins, Beckett and Myles, as yet again the "hour of learning" had degraded into drawing different imaginary squirts using the amazing detail you could get from six colors. Artemis had thought the solution to this problem would solve itself as his brother's were quite curious, but when nothing happened as he started spewing random information, hoping to gain their attention, Artemis realized he could use the time to think of what to do with the second problem, and with a disguised movement, he managed to get away from the twins' creative processes without disturbing them. They might realize he was gone in half an hour, but that would be enough time to explain how to solve Fermat's Theorem to an idiot, buy out an entire chain of restaurants and hack Foaly's computer to find anything that might be remotely interesting.

Interest. That was Artemis' second problem, he was facing boredom, nothing really seemed to interest him at the moment. The only exception was the magic he had coursing through him, but even the thought of another experiment with magic, pulled a sigh from him. It was rapidly becoming old news. He had found that he could guide the magic to heal small wounds (not that he had deliberately put himself in harm's way, it just sort of happened in his line of work, though Butler tried his best to keep Artemis from getting irreparably hurt), he could _Mesmer_ which was the fairies hypnotizing ability, and finally he had discovered he could feel a connection from living creatures, sort of like an aura detection. He could within a sphere of about 20 metres feel the general stage of mind anyone within this sphere had. This third ability hadn't come much into play as Artemis was extremely good at reading other people through their body language and he felt that the challenges of reading another person's feelings were much more interesting when he didn't rely on magic.

Artemis entered his study, fired up the computer and was about to begin teasing the centaur with a decoy, when something caught his attention. He realized that one of the other computers were already online and had finished a search Artemis did not remember starting. It was a search on time travel and many results of different people attempting to, and miserably failing at, time travel were flashing bright on the screen. One person had driven his car into incredibly high speeds, using rocket fuel, hoping that the speed combined with a bunch of technical gear attached to the car would be enough to travel to the future. He had crashed into a wall and was still in the hospital. Another weirdo had tried to build a giant washing machine using the centrifugal powers of said machine to be blasted through the walls of reality and into the past. The police had cut the project short on day four when he had accidentally told his neighbor of his plan.

Artemis sighed and was about to close down the computer, dismissing his loss of memory as either boredom or perhaps a small side effect to the mind wipes he had been exposed to, when he discovered one of the sites were fairy. Artemis had programmed his computers to search through both human and fairy databases without Foaly realizing (or maybe the centaur knew, and was pulling a prank on him) and he knew that this link was the real deal. He clicked the file and an extensive report of the capabilities of No. 1, the demon warlock from Limbo, whom he had helped rescue from the clutches of an evil demon called Leon Abbott, appeared. Artemis read that multiple experiments had confirmed that the warlock was quite capable of time travel, although the project had been shut down due to "quantum zombies".

Artemis suddenly felt like a fire burned as he rapidly read the entire report. _This_, he thought, _this is something unknown, something new, something that can be researched with a purpose_. Artemis realized he craved the knowledge of the possibilities of time travel. He knew right then and there that he would be the first human to time travel. He could test different theories that people always related to time travel. And then he realized, he had just read about a hundred failed attempts, other people's failures, at what he was about to dig into and the irony hit him. The line between insanity and genius was a thin one, but Artemis had absolute confidence that he was a genius, someone who would do what no one had done before. Artemis decided he needed plotting music, after all this needed some thinking through.

(Two hours later)

When Artemis decided to exit his study he immediately ran into his father. Artemis Senior said something, but Artemis was lost in thought and only when his father placed a hand on his son's shoulder, turned him around and looked him in the eye.

"Son, are you alright," his father asked him.

Artemis distractedly replied: "Yes, Father, I am more than alright." Artemis paused and looking at his father's expectant face he sighed and returned the question, as he didn't want to elaborate on his plan to anyone but Butler: "What about you?"

His father grew silent. His facial expression changed to one of sadness. Artemis asked: "What's wrong?" "It's your mother, Artemis. She's… sick and well… I have not seen this sickness before, so I have called for a doctor. The symptoms are quite… radical."

Artemis considered for a short while, whether or not he should be worried. His mother had been sick before, but that was a mental sickness, and it had been cured with a little fairy magic. Now it sounded as though his mother was physically sick, but seeing as Artemis had magic of his own now, he decided, he could cure his mother on his own. If the task proved too daunting, he could always call upon Holly. And so Artemis mentally shoved his mother's sickness a notch down on the priority list, once again being absorbed in the plan. He decided to throw in a comment to his father: "With a good doctor, I think we can expect Mother to be up from bed in a couple of days," Artemis said smiling, whilst silently thinking to himself: _When the doctor leaves I can look at this and decide how bad it is_.

And with that, Artemis turned and continued his stride towards where he expected to find Butler. His father called after him: "What about the twins? Do you know where they are?" And Artemis answered with a "They're probably experimenting. Or they might be adventuring." Artemis felt a sting of guilt as he pushed aside his family and concentrated on the new project. He always felt his conscious when speaking with his family because he had _mesmered_ them into not thinking why he had been gone or where he had went. But Artemis had no time to be thinking of his family. He had not been so fired up about a project since discovering demons. And that had technically been 3 years ago.

Artemis expected Butler to be by the front door. Butler usually was either making rounds, dismantling his weapons, reading about weapons or if Artemis was lucky, he could catch Butler reading fiction. This was one of the things his bodyguard/best friend had picked up whilst Artemis had been trapped in Limbo. So when Artemis actually happened to stumble upon Butler with "The life and strange surprising adventures of Robinson Crusoe", he just chuckled lightly, bringing Butlers immediate attention to his young master.

"Butler, I have a plan for what to do to relieve me of my stress and boredom, and actually do something for a change."

Butler sighed. The last plan had cost Artemis' parents three years of grief for losing a son and while Butler was compelled to follow Artemis everywhere he couldn't help himself for asking: "Does it involve risks?"

Artemis answered: "Without risks, my friend, it wouldn't be the same. Although I have considered the risks, they cannot stop me from trying. You see, Butler, I have come to terms with how time travel works and I believe if I could just convince Holly in some way to let No 1 have a day off and I could speak with him I am confident in convincing him to restart this project with a few additional tests."

Butler almost couldn't look Artemis in the eyes; they glowed with an inner fire, like a man addicted to something so bad that he couldn't go on a day without it. Butler saw it as an addiction to knowledge, and the fact that Artemis would not feel content until he had made his mark on every subject known to man. But when looking into those eyes, those glistering eyes, like a child having just tasted chocolate for the first time and desperately craving more, he knew he could not stop Artemis. So he simply said: "You know it would make my job a whole lot easier if you would tell me about these risks, Artemis."

Artemis commented: "Not here, Butler, the walls have ears, namely Father, Mother and the twins. But I can tell you that the first part of the plan doesn't involve much risk." Artemis smirked. "However, this will be made up for by the risk of "quantum zombies" in the second part."

Butler just raised an eyebrow. This was his everyday life and he didn't complain that the first part sounded less risky than the second. He deduced that the first part was information gathering and the second was the actual "travel", but he didn't like it one bit when his employer joked about safety details. However Butler couldn't help but feel a bit proud over the fact that Artemis had just made a joke. He asked: "What are "quantum zombies"?"

"From what I could gather: Something nasty." _Wow, two jokes in a minute_, _I really _should_ find the clown dress and begin juggling_, Artemis thought. _But joking aside,_ _I really feel like this… this could lead to something great. _The possibilities were, hypothetically speaking, infinite. It was up to Artemis to decide which way to go. And so he decided to go make a rather special phone call.

As he made to move closer to Artemis, Butler saw the threat, but had no possibility of reaching out and stopping Artemis, who was clearly in deep thought. The only thing Butler could do, as a giant portal, a vortex of distorting reality opened in front of Artemis, was to fall to his knees and watch as the fourteen-year old boy wandered into the portal and was swallowed. The portal vanished in front of Butler. He decided to do something he hadn't done in a long time. Butler panicked.

Please give constructive criticism.


	2. Weird

Follow-up chapter! Randomly brought to you a few hours later than the last story! (Actually, I was waiting for the two days to be able to upload chapter 1, and well, got bored with homerwork again – gods I cannot stand [insert your most hated subject here]) I like math though :-). The only subject I can consistently get an A! I expect the third chapter to either take a week or a day. Depends on when I get bored again.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though .

Act 1: Past

Chapter 2: Weird.

Artemis did not realize something had changed until his mind for a moment cleared and just to see whether or not Butler was accompanying him, Artemis listened for his bodyguards footsteps. There was no sound. Artemis suddenly realized his surroundings had drastically changed, from the hallways of Fowl Manor to an indescribable field of nothingness. It reminded Artemis of a nightmare he had had when his father had vanished. It was unlike any description the report on time travel could possibly conjure up. Firstly, it was surprisingly not Artemis who commanded where the time travel should go. Secondly, the time stream was pretty much a straight line, almost no hitches of any kind. And as an afterthought, there was no feeling at all. It was extremely cold.

Artemis had read the report six times during his two-hour planning period, and he was absolutely certain that not even Qwan, the most experienced of the warlocks, could make a time stream like this. It was flawless. Artemis still concentrated on keeping himself together as was the norm, but he felt like another entity did all the work for him. And Artemis didn't like the feeling that he was left in another's control.

It felt like he had travelled for an eternity, when finally the light at the end of the tunnel could be seen. Artemis was expulsed from the vortex and as he managed to get to his feet he saw that the portal was already gone. Artemis took a few seconds to take in all the details of his surroundings. What he saw frightened him to his very core. It was a village, unlike any Artemis had seen before. He had appeared on the very top of the island on which said village was situated. He was standing on a wooden pathway which had been fastened to a huge rock that lay at the top of the village and he had an amazing view over the entire village, which was situated along a hill with houses going from the top of the hill and all the way down to the ocean. All the houses looked recent, as if the village had been burnt down just before Artemis arrival. But it wasn't the houses that frightened Artemis – he had seen some places in the world with the same architectural style, and if recalled correctly it was somewhere around the northern parts of Scandinavia he had seen some of these huts – no, it was the people.

Men and women alike, all wore huge leather jackets with some metal plating to protect their most vulnerable spots. Almost all the men had enough mass to challenge Butler and the women also looked fierce and muscular. All carried with them, in plain sight, massive hammers or axes and while they technically looked a bit fake from where Artemis was standing, he wasn't about to test a groundless theory that contained so many risks and with so little payback. They were most probably painfully real.

As Artemis stood there feeling lost and helpless (he hated that feeling especially), his eyes were drawn to the clouds that made it look as if a thunderstorm was on the way. A bell sounded in the distance. Artemis felt as if the entire village took a relieved breath and then continued with whatever they were doing, but more enthusiastically. The bell sounding was also a trigger to Artemis personality gaining back lost ground from his mental shutdown, as Artemis once again began seeing possibilities that others might not. Artemis immediately decided that he was to have no contact with anyone, as he did not have Butler to protect him. This was another thought that scared Artemis; he was used to having the bodyguard around and it made him feel safe to have a friend around. He looked around him on the pathway and saw that one road led down to some sort of arena, the other led around the rock the pathway was attached to.

Artemis silently cursed himself for being lost in thought for such an extended period of time; a young man was making his way up towards him and Artemis had nowhere to hide. He quickly assumed a stance that looked neutral and prepared to run or defend himself, if that was going to be necessary. As the teenager came closer, he spotted Artemis. The reaction from the teen was pure astonishment, and he nearly dropped the barrel of fish he had been carrying.

Artemis didn't know how to start the conversation, so he waited for the other part to say something. When the conversation started, the stranger's voice sounded to have overcome the initial shock, and the boy asked: "Who are you?"

"I am Artemis Fowl II. May I ask who you might be?"

Hiccup looked at the strange boy for a moment, startled that he could talk, mystified that the name sounded so different from anything he had ever heard, and he replied: "I am Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. What are you doing here dressed like that?"

Artemis winced at the thought that his hand sown Armani suit was making him look out of place. He saw that Hiccup was dressed in a green shirt, with a brown vest over the shirt, with grey pants and leather boots. Comparing that to the personally made black suit, black shoes and white tie, he could see where Hiccup's suspicion was coming from, but he had not lost the argument just yet. It seemed to Artemis, that Hiccup was also a bit of an outsider, since he did not wear the traditional armor that he had seen worn by both men and women in the village. "It is but an outfit. I am here for no particular reason. Do you know what this place is?"

"This place? This is Berk, an incredibly dull place where nothing ever happens." The irony was dripping, but Artemis didn't catch it. "But you didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?"

"I believe I told you, I don't know."

"How did you get into the village?"

Artemis felt uncomfortable – why didn't he understand that he could not answer that question without seeming like babbling moron – and he decided to lie.

"I came in by boat. My boat is fastened on the other side of the forest."

At this statement Hiccup had had enough. He hadn't trusted the strange boy from the moment he saw him and his pale skin. The boy had embedded some truth in some of his answers, but now, he realized that the boy was lying. It was not possible to take a boat through the rocks on the backside of the island. Realizing this, Hiccup began to wonder if Artemis was a spy. If Hiccup hadn't been caught off guard as he had, he might have been able to keep his facial expression still. But Artemis noticed the change of attitude and the aura of Hiccup had changed from a neutral see-through to a more suspicious reddish hue. So when Hiccup said "Ok. So do you know anyone around here?" he knew the game was lost.

Artemis considered his options, which rapidly boiled down to two. He could attempt to tell the truth and hope Hiccup believed him, or he could _mesmer_ the boy into thinking he had never seen him. Artemis decided the second to have the greater chance of success and so he closed his eyes and called upon his magic. When he felt the familiar buzz, he opened his eyes and looked Hiccup straight in the eye.

"You will not tell anyone of your meeting with me. You will want to go home and sleep, because you are tired after a long day's hard work."

Hiccup could not look away; why would he. He suddenly thought Artemis voice sounded so convincing, so beautiful, beyond anything he could describe. It sounded like peace and acceptance and Hiccup found himself lost in the voice. He found that he was suddenly extremely tired and he decided Toothless could wait until tomorrow. He did not see the point in discussing his meeting with Artemis with anyone; it was probably not even important.

Artemis decided that it was good enough; Hiccup wouldn't forget him, should they see each other again, and if Artemis needed it he could try his hands at convincing the boy again. This was actually a possibility that Artemis was considering, seeing as Hiccup was the only person Artemis had seen, that didn't have enough muscles to break him in half. Artemis was about to turn around and leave, when something moved behind him. He turned around and stood face-to-face with a huge man, with a huge red beard, wielding a massive battleaxe. And then the man made his move.

The strange boy didn't stand a chance as Stoick brought down the hilt of his weapon unto the boys head. He was unconscious as he hit the floor. Hiccup immediately snapped out of whatever trance had been holding him. He could clearly remember what Artemis had told him, and he realized that Artemis could hypnotize. Apparently Stoick thought along the same lines and declared: "Son, you need to be careful when you meet an apprentice of Loki. They have the power of the words, and those words can make your head unscrew itself and make you do things you wouldn't do otherwise."

Hiccup sighed and answered: "Yeah, dad, I know… but he just didn't seem dangerous… only a bit strange."

Stoick considered this briefly, but as he heard something that did not go together with the correct Viking way (strangers must die), Stoick decided to forget the words as they were being spoken. His son still had yet to have the right attitude, but Stoick was happy that his son had finally decided to become a true Viking. It had only been two days ago Stoick came home from a perilous journey to try and find the dragons' nest and while that journey had proved fruitless, he had come home to hearing about his son's transformation into a true warrior. He had heard that his son would lay down one beast after the other barehanded. So while Stoick had become marginally better at hearing what his son had to say, he still selectively heard only the things he wanted to hear.

"Son, just because a Terrible Terror doesn't _seem_ dangerous, it seems small and weak, doesn't mean it can't bite off your nose. It doesn't mean it can't cooperate with other Terrors and find a way to kill you. You must learn to hit things first, and then when things have calmed down, then you can interrogate your victims. I am going to put this one," he gestured to the unconscious body," in one the empty cells and find out where he comes from. You can go home, Hiccup, as it seems the upcoming storm will keep us from being raided tonight. You can get ready for dragon training tomorrow."

"Yes, Dad," Hiccup mumbled, and turning around to go back to the village he secretly decided he would be there when Artemis was interrogated. He didn't know why, but when Artemis had hypnotized him, he had forgotten all prejudice against him, and in that light, the boy had seemed… lost. There was something about Artemis, and Hiccup would get to the bottom of this. Stoick walked towards the arena with Artemis slung over his shoulder and with Hiccup following both of them.

If you have questions, or want me to know something that I clearly don't know, don't hesitate to review. Just remember: _constructive_ criticism :-).


	3. Trust

I finally found out how to read reviews. And I had gotten a review. And it was positive :-)! Really positive! So, I decided to work up some boredom (I have to write an essay for Thursday, and decided against writing that for now) and I found some time to write ch. 3. It's a bit darker, but there needs to be a bit of suspense, right.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though .

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 3: Trust.

Waking up with a massive headache was an experience Artemis would rather not try again. It had begun with the end of a dream, a nightmare, and when Artemis suddenly was propelled into the world of the living, he was immediately assaulted with a massive pain in his head. Millions of knives assaulted his mind, trying to make him pass out again, while trying to keep him awake at the same time. His face hurt like hell, but remembering the giant man who had hit him, he came to. Artemis grunted and tried to get up, but the pain came back as he tried, making him dizzy. He immediately thought of using magic to make the pain go away, but even Artemis found that it was impossible to call upon his magic when he was busy with trying to keep awake. A muffled voice spoke from somewhere, but Artemis could not bother to actually listen. He just grunted and tried to little by little regain himself. Two seconds later, he was doused with a bucket of water.

"Get up!"

The voice was suddenly extremely loud. Artemis had heard him very clearly and he realized he was not alone in the small cell. The cell itself was pretty low tech; a small cubic room made of stone, except for a barred window in the ceiling and a wooden door leading out. It was dark outside, wind whipping into the cell as a storm was on the rise. Artemis was then lifted by the man in the cell and placed upon a stool. Artemis recognized his captor as the one who had hit him, even in the darkness, and it was apparently painted in his face that he was not happy to see the man, as he said: "Good, you remember me." Stoick wandered around himself and then suddenly his face came closer to Artemis' and he yelled:"Now, tell me: WHICH TRIBE ARE YOU FROM?"

Artemis was taken aback. He found himself mumbling, something he would rather be caught dead than doing, and he snapped back with an emergency remark. "I…" Artemis tried to find his voice, which seemed to have left him. "I'm not from around here." Artemis breathed in, the pain momentarily numbing his senses. "But I'm not sure what you want from me?"

"I want to know three things: One, I want to know who you are. Two, I want to know where you come from. And three, I want to know how you want to die! The more you cooperate, the more options you get when we reach the third question. No one," his voice lowered to a whisper, "No one, hurts my son other than friends or family, and only because, gods know, he needed it to become who he is today! Now get talking."

Artemis was desperately trying to grasp the situation he was in. He had almost no time to think and yet his every fiber told him he needed to slow down and get the man to calm down. Maybe he could still reason with him. Then Artemis caught on with the last statement. "Wait… Hiccup is your son?"

"Aye, I am Stoick the Vast, the chief of Berk, and he is my son. Although you might have trouble seeing the family resemblance, you will know he is my son, if you meet him in battle. " The last part sounded doubtful about his own declaration, and Artemis wondered what the relationship between Hiccup and his father might be. Which father would say: "No one but me and my friends can hurt my son, and only because he needs it." Stoick then realized something and Artemis was instantaneously brought back to the seriousness of the situation when Stoick slapped him with his huge hand.

Stoick saw the small boy's frame cower in fear of being slapped again, and he found that even he did not enjoy this as much as he thought he would. He had thought he would enjoy getting back at a stranger who had tried to hurt his son, but the boy he was staring at was probably younger or the same age as Hiccup. He would much rather, that the boy had not come. But herein was the problem; he would have to make an example of him, otherwise the tribe who had sent him would probably send even more young spies, and it would wear down the villages' resources even faster than the dragon raids. So he said: "I am the one asking the questions and if your next words do not form a satisfying answer to my first question, I will break your arm."

Artemis was terrified. He had been beaten around before, but this man seemed like he had a heart of ice. When Holly had hit him, he had been dumbfounded the first time, but he had learned to grow used to her outbursts of random violence as it was just her way of showing affection for him. This man did not possess any affection for anyone. Artemis would not believe it if someone told him otherwise. Artemis knew that he himself could act cold, and make himself do some things he would otherwise not do if it was really necessary, but when this man said threatened to do something he meant every word. And he could most likely do whatever he had just said. So Artemis stammered: "I'm Artemis Fowl. I am heir to the Fowl Empire. And I am not from a tribe. Please don't…" Stoicks eyes shut him up.

Stoick raised an eyebrow. _An heir… really_, he thought. But the second sentence left more questions. What was the Fowl Empire? Stoick had never heard of it. And where was this Empire? Lastly, Stoick knew Artemis was telling the truth when he said he was not from a tribe. There was no way it could be a lie, he could see it in his eyes… unless, time had turned against him and Artemis had gotten back the power of the words. Damn it, it was all so confusing when the gods were involved. Maybe, he should let the boy sit in silence. Angrily, Stoick smashed open the door and left the cell, leaving Artemis sitting in silence on the stool.

Hiccup was standing outside the wooden door. He had heard Stoick ask who Artemis was, had heard him slap Artemis and had heard Artemis' cries of pain, but the wooden door was too thick for anything other than loud sounds to pass through. He desperately hoped for a chance to speak to Artemis, because whatever his father said, Hiccup didn't believe Artemis was as "dangerous" as advertised. Hiccup knew that the village policy was to kill spies and if only Artemis had not done his hypnotizing trick in front of Stoick perhaps the situation might have been salvaged. But Hiccup knew that his father, however much his father didn't like him being weak and scrawny, loved him, and if someone tried to hurt "his Hiccup" that person would be living on borrowed time. It was only because they needed to know where to send the body that Artemis was still alive, thought Hiccup, when his father angrily burst through the door and strode toward the arena exit.

Hiccup knew he shouldn't, but he had decided to talk to Artemis and he went into the room through the heavy wooden door. Artemis was sitting still in the middle of the room on the stool. There wasn't much light, but what little there was, did not look more inviting to Hiccup as the light made Artemis look like a tortured soul, a demonic entity from Hel. Hiccup began wondering if this had been such a good idea, when Artemis rasped: "What are you doing here? Have you come to gloat?"

Hiccup raised his hands defensively and said: "No, I just wanted to try and understand you. You come here to this island, through means unknown, and the first person you meet is me. You then placate me with an obvious lie before trying to hypnotize me to forget about the lie. Please, don't try that again, by the way. I just want to know your side of the story."

Artemis gave this some thought and said: "If you want my side of the story, you're going to have to let me go somewhere your father doesn't know. Then you can get the story."

Artemis was confident that Hiccup would slump in his shoulders and leave, as it would be impossible for the chief's son to save a prisoner, and even one who had apparently tried to do something to that same person. He expected that he would then be able to gather his options before deciding what to do. So when Hiccup suddenly smiled and said: "Ok. I trust you and you trust me," Artemis just stared speechless at him.

"What?"

"I trust you and you trust me. I'll get you out of here, and you tell me the truth. Deal?"

Artemis couldn't believe what he was hearing. The probability of Hiccup actually going through with this plan was small, the probability of it even smaller and even then he hadn't said anything about what he wanted to do with Artemis after they had escaped. He could be leading Artemis right into a trap. However upon thinking it over Artemis knew he had to run with it. He didn't know anything about where he was. Here was someone offering help and Artemis needed all the help he could possibly get. So after a minute or so, Artemis came to a decision; he would test Hiccups determination.

"I will trust you, if you actually do get me out of here. And then I'll decide if I want to tell you my story." This would essentially mean that whilst Artemis got maximum payoff, Hiccup could be left with nothing.

"It's alright. If you decide not to tell me, then I'll just go on with my life and you'll go on with yours. But I have a feeling you don't want to do that. I think you want to trust me," Hiccup said smiling. _Damn_, thought Artemis, _I was too easy to read. I suppose I'll have to run with it._

"Fine. It's a deal. But if you do something, that I don't like, then you'll have to explain yourself or I will leave. Now, what is the plan?"

"Plan? We walk out of here, and move to the forest on the other side of the village. Simple."

"You should know with me around, nothing is ever simple. So how do we get to the forest."

"Remember where we met first?"

"Yeah, I suppose." Artemis still hadn't forgotten his first view of this strange new world. This day would most likely get even weirder, if he decided to tell Hiccup of himself.

"Well, if you had continued to follow that pathway, you would have gotten to the top of the village; our house is actually around there. Anyway, you just have to continue a small ways down the village and then you would get to the forest. No one really goes into the forest so we don't have to worry when we get to that point. Now, any questions?"

"Two actually: Where are we now, when compared to where I… appeared?"

Hiccup suddenly realized Artemis had been unconscious when he was being carried to the prison. "Well, that's easy. We're at the arena – you must have seen it behind me, right. Well, the arena also functions as a prison, and quite frankly, we don't usually have any trouble with the other tribes so our prison is sort of underwhelming. This is the only cell." _That isn't occupied by dragons_, thought Hiccup. He was glad his father was so angry with Artemis that he hadn't immediately thrown his unconscious body into the cage with the Deadly Nadder.

"Then why did you come from the arena with a barrel filled with fish when I met you?"

"Oh. Well. I was just… The Mead Hall is behind the arena and I just had to get some cod for dinner. I _really_ like cod."

Artemis ok'ed the answer. He knew the boy was lying, but he didn't sense any evil intentions with the lie – he was just keeping a secret. Artemis understood secrets. _Knowledge is power_, he thought, _but now is not the time_.

"And the last question: How are we supposed to get me, public enemy nr. 1, from this arena to the forest, without anyone realizing I'm gone?"

"Oh, don't worry, I've got that one covered," Hiccup said with a smile. Artemis really hated being left out of a plan.

Another chapter is done. I know that my commas are way wrong, but English isn't my first language and in my language we have commas everywhere. If you liked this chapter, please review. If there were some parts you didn't like then please, tell me where I should improve. I believe that unless something unexpected happens, the next chapter will be up within one or two days:-).


	4. Escape

Whew. This chapter took more time than the others to write. I knew where I wanted to go with it, but actually getting to that point was… harder than I expected it would be. But I like how it turned out. And I hope you enjoy this chapter, too.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though .

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 4: Escape.

Artemis was slowly recovering from his time spent with Stoick. He knew that getting over traumatic experiences without actually confronting them would be bad for him psychologically speaking, but he had no time to dwell on these matters, as he followed Hiccup across the arena. It wasn't very big, but Artemis supposed that it was mostly used for duels, which didn't require much space. He noted there was a ceiling, made of metal beams formed in a spherical fashion. He didn't want to believe anyone could jump out of the arena – it was reasonably tall – but he knew, that if anyone could do it, it would be that man. Stoick. Artemis shuddered and returned to pestering Hiccup.

"Come on, you have got to at least formulate the entirety of the plan to the people involved in it. Otherwise I won't be able to say whether or not it actually has a chance to succeed."

"You know, Artemis? You speak strangely. Not the usual kind of Norse, that's for sure. As for your question, I believe it is time to tell you what is to be expected of you in this plan." Hiccup presented the barrel filled to the brim with fish. "You just get in and I carry you through the village."

Artemis was a bit disturbed by this plan. He could see a number of things that could go wrong and… Norse! "Waitwaitwait, did you say Norse? Do I speak Norse?"

Hiccup stared at him. He began wondering if his newfound friend had lost his mind when his father had hit him. Hiccup could still see the huge black mark underneath Artemis' left eye. It looked bad, but he decided to roll with Artemis' question: "Yeah, you do. Why do you ask?"

Artemis was irritated. Not at the boy's question, which was perfectly sensible, but at his inability to realize he had also somehow gained the fairies ability to speak all languages and understand the same languages, as if they were his own. The possibilities for experimenting with this power would have been endless had he just known a few hours earlier. Now he was trying to figure out a sensible way of evading Hiccup's concerns for his mental state. "I ask, because…" Artemis sighed, not willing to test his supposed aid's patience again with another lie and simply said: "You will understand, should I decide to tell you of my story. Now, as for your plan; I have a few more questions…"

"But those will have to remain unspoken. My father will most likely be coming back pretty soon, when he has thought of how to deal with you. Therefore, if you value your life, get in the barrel."

Artemis made a motion to complain, but decided against it as he realized Hiccup was right – time was of the essence. Grumbling, Artemis moved to the barrel and after pulling the lid off, he jumped into the barrel filled with a various assortment of fish. A number of fish fell out of the barrel and onto the arena floor. Artemis tried to make himself comfortable, but it was an impossibility. Though he tried to avoid using words such as "always", "never" and "impossible", it just wasn't possible to enjoy the situation Artemis was in. He had basically crawled into a coffin; if Hiccup decided he was too much trouble, Artemis would have no way of reacting to being thrown off a cliff. If Artemis was discovered, he would have no way of reacting to being axed to death or smashed to death by some random person. Even if the plan succeeded, Artemis predicted they would spend half the night running away from a rabid bear because of the absolute horrid smell. The smell was inescapable, it was everywhere.

Hiccup dumped a couple of fish on top of Artemis as a precaution, and then lifted the barrel. It wasn't much heavier than he was used to, Artemis was luckily very light, and Hiccup stumbled towards the forest balancing the big barrel. As they reached the village, Artemis suddenly made a spitting sound. Hiccup hushed him, but Artemis couldn't help but throw in a snide remark. "How would you like to sit in the stink barrel?"

Hiccup chuckled, but immediately stopped laughing, when the door to him and his father's house opened and Stoick stepped out. If Stoick caught him helping "the spy"… Hiccup didn't want to imagine what would happen and tried to just casually pass by his father. Failing the attempt, of course.

"Hiccup, what are you doing?"

Hiccup froze, what had he done? Was it possible his father knew Artemis was in the barrel? Could he smell him? _No, those are paranoid thoughts, of course my father doesn't know… as long as I don't screw up._ Hiccup turned around: "I… eh… I just… Fish!" Stoick stared incredulously at him, as if he had lost his mind.

"I… just wanted to help delivering fish to the hungry families, Dad. Fish," Hiccup repeated holding up the barrel to show his father the fish.

Artemis was completely quiet. Every thought he might have had about bad smelling fish and barrels being thrown off cliffs were gone. His only thought was to somehow quiet his heart, which had suddenly become extremely loud. He was panicking, but only silently. Every second seemed to drag to a halt, and when Hiccup had stumbled through the most obvious lie in history, Artemis knew he was done for.

Artemis didn't know Stoick though. Stoick just accepted the answer. Stoick was already thinking about how to make "the spy" talk and talking with Hiccup, made him feel tired. Stoick was still a bit exhausted from the Vikings recent attempt at finding the dragons' Nest, and the only reason he hadn't gone to sleep yet, was because he felt he needed to deal with the threat to his village now, rather than later. "Fine, Hiccup, just go to sleep soon. You don't want to miss training, do you now?"

Hiccup answered with a standard "No, Dad," and only when his father had long left him he dared move another step. He still felt like he had been struck by lightning. That had been too close. If Artemis had talked at the wrong time, they would have both been screwed. Hiccup sighed, relieved, and then said to the barrel: "Don't speak until it's safe, please."

Artemis didn't answer. He was still a bit shaken at the close call. He had actually been joking about his bad luck when it came to the best laid plans, but he didn't think it would actually be an issue. Artemis began calming down when Hiccup whispered: "Close to the forest…" He continued to ponder – as he had done before he had been interrupted by an especially foul smelling fish getting into his mouth, as he tried to breathe – over the day so far. He thought of his newly found power of the languages. He thought of Stoick's cruelty and Hiccup's possible friendship. He thought of seeing his family again… His mind wandered to the thought, that he may never see his family again. He immediately scolded himself; for even considering that and for using the "never" word. Of course he would see them again. He was a Fowl, and a Fowl could make the impossible possible.

Hiccup was walking towards the edge of the forest, when a foot suddenly tripped him. He desperately tried to hold onto the basket, but it wasn't possible to regain balance and he dropped the barrel with a massive crash. Luckily it landed upright, and though Hiccup heard Artemis curse, he decided Artemis wasn't discovered… yet. He looked up, confused and saw that it was Astrid who had tripped him. Hiccups mind blanked. He had always thought Astrid was everything he wasn't. She was strong, he was weak and it had been like that since before anything Hiccup could remember. However since he had "picked up" Toothless, he had learnt a few tricks about dragons, and Astrid was not having any of it. She had become extremely competitive, and every time Hiccup somehow managed to beat a dragon before her (which was basically every time), she hated herself and trained even harder. Hiccup had hoped to someday be accepted by her, as he was secretly in love with her, but right now he felt more hated than loved.

Astrid glared at him. "What are you doing?"

"I… er… I… I was just… walking."

"What's in the barrel?"

Hiccup was sweating. "Just… just fish," he said nervously.

"Oh, and what do you plan on doing, going on a walk in the forest with a barrel of fish?"

"I… I… wasn't going to…"

"No. You weren't. You have some sort of secret and you have five minutes to tell me the secret, otherwise I will talk with my father, who will then discuss it with yours!"

"Please Astrid, don't…"

"Oh no, I'm not calming down until you give me an answer. I know that your secret has _something_ to do with your sudden power in training, and I am not going to be here for very long, you know."

Hiccup was in a bad position. He didn't want to reveal Artemis, but he didn't want his father involved either. What could he do? "Astrid, listen, I… I… I make outfits. Really silly outfits and I would appreciate it if my father didn't know about it. He's… not really one for sewing and that sort of thing. I could show you one if you like… but please… don't tell."

Astrid sighed. She had felt his "I'm-am-doing-something-bad"-intention when she saw him walking towards the forest. He looked like he had seen a ghost. She had also been meaning to go into the forest to her training spot – she still needed experience, if she were to beat Hiccup – but seeing Hiccup, she had decided to confront him. However she certainly didn't expect this answer. But seeing as it was Hiccup, it was definitely possible. She was about to ask him "Then why are you so good at dragon training?" but she didn't want to admit he was better than her. She could still show him at the training the next day. She definitely could; she was better, she deserved to be the one to kill her first dragon.

Astrid punched Hiccup, "That's for keeping a stupid secret," and she let her axe fall upon his solar plexus, making it bounce back up into her hand, "and that's for not telling me the entire secret." She knew he was still holding out on her, but it didn't matter, she would definitely win the next training. And then everything would be right again. As an extra insult she kicked the barrel that stood up, so it began rolling down the hill and into the forest. "Good luck catching your fish, Hiccup," and with that she left him as he lay beaten.

Artemis could feel nausea building up as he was being pushed against the barrel's walls by the power of the centripetal force. He was getting dazed by the centrifugal movement, as he went faster and faster down the hill. But Artemis didn't know a tree was coming, and so he didn't know when he should brace himself for the impact. With a sickening crack, the barrel hit the tree and cracked in half. Artemis himself roared from pain; he had broken his arm. He had been trying to push at the opposite end of the barrel, to keep him level, but as it suddenly stopped, the force of the impact had rattled his arm out of its joint and had broken it. Artemis tried to contain the pain he was feeling – if he made too much noise, all their efforts would be for naught – but the pain was overwhelming. Fish were splattered all over the forest floor. The sky was blue. The grass green. The fish grey. Artemis focused on anything besides his arm to keep himself from crying.

Hiccup quickly realized something was off, when he heard the scream from 50 yards away, just beyond the forest border. He ran to the impact site. He found Artemis writhing in the grass and surrounded by fish from the broken barrel. He was having a very pained expression, tears were escaping his eyes though he tried to keep them back and Hiccup quickly ducked over to Artemis. "Artemis, what happened?"

"Broken arm… and my arm was pulled out of its joint… need you to pull it back in…" Artemis whispered painfully. Hiccup immediately knew what he meant, and without any hesitation he grabbed the broken arm and pushed back the arm into its joint.

Artemis felt like he had just been burned with a searing iron, and he roared again. This time he could not hold back the tears. After a few minutes, he stopped crying. He felt like his arm began calming down again, slowly at first, but after a while he found he could sit up. He tried to move it as little as possible, but it still hurt – just the slightest movement and he could feel it. Artemis considered using magic to mend his broken bone, but decided against it – it was too dangerous. His experiments had showed he could heal small scars, but mending a broken bone was in an entirely different league. If he needed to he could always try later; now, he needed food and shelter.

Hiccup felt with Artemis. He himself had been exposed to some bruises in his time and he knew how painful broken bones were. He decided to bring Artemis to the hunting house, a small house inside the forest where you could find bows and arrows, and other hunting gear if you needed something else, but more importantly, there was also a first aid kit, consisting of a few painkilling herbs and some bandages. Hiccup helped Artemis to his feet, both were silent.

Hiccup decided to break the silence: "I'm sorry, Artemis. I… I didn't mean to drop you and when Astrid came by… she's my friend… but you got hurt..." Hiccup didn't know how to finish.

Artemis forced a smile. "It could be worse, you know. We weren't discovered, so you kept your end of the deal. But… you wouldn't happen to know, if there are any bandages somewhere. I would like to keep this arm still, but it seems I can't do it while moving. And some food, I haven't eaten all day."

"Of course I know! We're going there now, see." He pointed to the roof of a wooden hut a little ways forward that could just barely be seen because of the trees.

Artemis just accepted the fact with a straight face, trying to keep himself from making a wrong move. "Then, lets get going. You'll get your story, Hiccup. I need _someone_ I can talk to and though you are a godawful liar, you seem clever enough."

Hiccup beamed, glad Artemis was warming up. He had been right to trust Artemis. He picked up the broken barrel, gathered a couple of fish and said: "Yes, lets get going."

**Stoick threatening Artemis with breaking his arm (ch.3), and it actually happens O_O. The irony. I've never tried breaking my arm, so the description could be totally wrong. I've never actually broken anything now that I think about it . The hunting hut wasn't in the movie, it's something I made up for convenience. Besides, I think a hunting hut could be needed in the village, if not for hunting, then for a hiding place for the children, or something. If you liked this, please tell. If not, then constructive criticism is also appreciated.**


	5. Future

Winter holiday! Whew, with all the tests in different subjects I'm surprised my brain hasn't melted and come out my ears, but now I have FREEDOM! This chapter might not be all action (unless you count two people talking as action) but it'll come.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though .

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 5: Future.

Artemis reflected on the day that had gone by, as he and Hiccup entered the hut. If he had to sum up the day in three words he would probably use "unreal", "scary" and "painful". He was thinking of how a completely normal day had turned into an unreal nightmare. He was scared of how defenseless he had been when confronted with a situation he should have been able to talk his way out of. And he was definitely thinking about how much of the combined percentage of pain, Artemis Fowl II had ever experienced in his life could be credited to this one day. He looked like a zombie. His suit was oily and smelly and had multiple rips in it. His right arm was broken, a massive bruise was underneath his left eye with a red handprint on the same cheek, he was hungry and he was tired. And yet he still gathered the necessary mental strength to sit quietly through the bandaging of his arm. When Hiccup had finished he proceeded to light a fire. Artemis meanwhile knew that it was time to decide.

Artemis knew he had promised to tell Hiccup about himself, but he was still a bit reluctant. It wasn't that the boy didn't deserve his trust – he was certainly trying to help him in every way possible – but he asked himself if Hiccup deserved to get dragged into his problems. Would Artemis have wanted to know if he had been in Hiccups situation? _Probably, but he is different than me,_ Artemis thought. His brain overheating from weighing rights and wrongs, he sighed.

"What's wrong? I'm almost done with the fish, you know," Hiccup said and showed Artemis the cooked fish on a stick. It was one of the few salmons that had been in the barrel.

Artemis just looked at him. _Maybe, I should let him choose himself._ "I know and they smell good. I have just been thinking… and I think, you should choose for yourself, whether or not you want to hear my story. I'll warn you though, it could involve you in my problems, but I think you have the right to decide your own future."

Hiccup was about to answer, that he wanted to know, but seeing Artemis serious expression he began wondering if he could regret this moment, should he say yes. However upon thinking this he knew that the reverse situation would be much harder to deal with; he would definitely regret it if he didn't hear Artemis' tale. Hiccup told Artemis.

"Very well. I will begin by asking you a question. Who do you think I am?"

Hiccup was a bit taken aback by this question, but he gave it some thought and answered: "Well, my father thinks you are an apprentice to a god. That would explain your hypnotic ability, but I do not think you are so. When you hypnotized me, everything went blurry, I couldn't really do anything. But at the same time, the way you were acting suddenly became clear as day. You were scared… of something. I got the feeling that you were lost somehow. I know everything about feeling lost and not knowing how to fit in and I decided to help you, because you remind me of yourself. Whether you are a god's son, a master of trickery or something else, I don't care."

"You could say that I am lost, yes. But I am not lost in the normal sense of the word. I am lost in time." Artemis had said it, the cat was out of the bag and he awaited Hiccup's reaction.

"Lost in… time?" Hiccup tried tasting the words. But they didn't seem to make sense to him.

"I am either from a far distant past or a far distant future, I do not know. But I do know that I am – not thousands of miles from what I call my home – but thousands of years from my home. Do you measure time here in Berk? Not in minutes or hours, but in years."

"Years? Why should we measure that? It would be pointless."

Artemis rolled his eyes. "If each year had a number, starting with one and moving upwards, then you could use it to accurately write down history for future generations. Anyway, I come from the 21st century, which is the years from 2000 until 2100."

Hiccup tried to get his mind around this statement. It was a lot to take in, but Hiccup was willing to give it a go. "Is there some way to prove what you say is true? If you could just prove it, my father would be willing to shelter you for however long you need to get home."

Artemis was a bit touched by this gesture, but even if he somehow built a communication device through time, he still did not know which time period he was in. He asked: "Yes Hiccup, I can prove it. However it won't do me any good if I don't know where I'm going and to know that I need information. Now, earlier I asked you where we were and you answered Berk. My next question would have been: What is your culture? Traditions and stuff like that."

Hiccup smiled. "That's easy. We're Vikings, of course. About our traditions…" "You don't need to tell me," Artemis interrupted. Hiccup stared: "Didn't you just ask?"

"Why, yes, I did, but one word was enough. You're Vikings, meaning I am from the future when compared to you." Artemis thought he must have lost a few brain cells, because he hadn't seen the connection between the Norse language, big burly men carrying axes and hammers and Vikings. Artemis muttered: "I've already read up on Norse Mythology and the traditions of Vikings, so you don't need to tell me. Now, this puts me anywhere between the 9th and the 12th century. It might not be pinpoint accuracy. But it's a start," he grinned to the confused Hiccup.

Hiccup was feeling very small suddenly. Artemis had _read up_ on "_Norse Mythology"_ and "the traditions of Vikings". He made a grim connection in his mind. "Artemis… are you saying, there are no Vikings in your time? Are… are we all dead?"

Artemis suddenly felt like he needed Holly or Butler to scold him for his tactlessness. He had received a clue on how to get home and had immediately forgotten that… he was in a long past chapter of history, and that this history didn't exactly end well for the Vikings. "Well… yes and no. Yes, the Vikings are all gone. But no, because not all Vikings were killed; they mixed with the surrounding countries and you can still find descendants of Vikings, even in my time."

"But… how? How are we defeated?"

"I do not think that would be a good idea to tell you. I realize I misspoke and for that I apologize. You must not be feeling so good at the moment, but you must understand Hiccup… This history needs to happen. If it doesn't, then something much worse could happen. In the best of cases, an alternate universe would appear and begin existing on top of the old one. This alternate universe could quite possibly be Hell on Earth for all I know. In the worst case, it might rip the very fabric of time apart and send everyone, everywhere to their doom. Do you realize now what I meant when I asked you if you wanted to know? Knowledge is power, yes, but if you can't handle that power it can be devastating." Artemis stopped talking. A heavy silence fell over the hut. Hiccup realized the fish he was holding was on fire. He quickly jumped up and by flailing the flaming stick through the air he managed to put the fire out.

"Do you still want some?"

"Definitely," Artemis said and in just ten minutes he had devoured the fish. It had tasted smoked and burnt, but it was food and Artemis was really hungry. Hiccup started warming up another fish. "What's Earth?"

Artemis silently cursed – how many more things would he accidentally reveal – and then casually answered: "The future word for Midgard."

"Oh." Hiccup thought some more. "You said you would tell me why you asked about the Norse language."

"Well, I was surprised that I could speak Norse, because I did not know it was part of my magic. You see, Hiccup, the reason you can understand me and I can understand you, is that I am the only magical man in my time. Apparently, my magic can translate whatever language you can throw at me. I didn't know this until you said we were speaking Norse."

"Your magic? Was that a gift from a god? Was it magic that hypnotized me?"

Hiccup seemed to have forgotten the sour mood from before and Artemis was happy to talk about something else. "Yes, my magic. No, I didn't get it from a god. I," Artemis considered for a moment but decided to tell Hiccup,"stole the magic from someone who had it. And finally, yes, one of the abilities of this magic is the _Mesmer_ which allows me to hypnotize anyone, as long as I make eye contact and tell them what they should do."

Hiccup gasped. "You stole the magic. From whom? How?"

"To answer that question, I need to tell you the whole story. From the beginning. You see, it started when I was twelve. For two years, I had searched far and wide for a fairy. You see, the fairies were in our legends but no one had actually considered they might be real. So I, using my brilliant intellect to hatch up a plan, kidnapped one of the fairies and demanded to be paid back with a single ton of gold… you know you don't have to look at me like that. You haven't heard the whole story, yet."

Hiccup was not about to back down. "You… kidnapped a person for gold? Why?"

"I was proud," Artemis said simply, "I was going to be the first human in history to relieve a fairy of their gold resources. Of course things didn't happen according to plan, I told you that when I'm involved, crazy things suddenly go wrong, and though a lot of things happened, it ended up with me possessing only half a ton of gold. I had spent half of my ton of gold for a magical healing of my mother, who had been sick, and I now had the resources to track down my father who had been lost in another country. Everyone I knew had thought he was dead, but I hadn't given up yet. This, of course, led to another crazy event where I helped the fairy People crush an uprising from a criminal organization. They in turn helped me find my father."

Hiccup was a bit more relaxed with this explanation. Though Artemis had been a criminal in the past – Hiccups future, gods, it was confusing – he had warmed a bit apparently. "So you only decided to kidnap a fairy because your father was in danger?"

"Well, I never had that intention at the time. At that time my motto was "Aurum potestas est" which means "gold is power"." Artemis frowned upon recalling this. He was still feeling guilty. "But meeting with the fairy whom I had kidnapped definitely changed something in me. I found that I had developed a conscience." Artemis said this as if it was a bad thing. "Anyway, now that my Mother and Father were both back, I decided to pull one last gig. I made an incredibly advanced piece of technology from stolen fairy technology and tried to blackmail one of the most dangerous men in the world to give me money. Unfortunately, the plan backfired and though the matter was resolved – again with fairy help – they wiped my mind, to make me forget everything about fairies so I couldn't bring them in danger again."

"They can do that! But… you remember now so didn't it work or something?"

"Well, it did work, but after a while the person who had been orchestrating the uprising wanted revenge. She decided to kill me and all others involved in her defeat, and though she nearly succeeded, we put her back in prison, and through this process I got my memory back. Now that I was back in business, I decided I could help the People with a problem they had long tried to solve – the demons. The demons had during a war decided to lift their island outside of time. Anyway, the spell that kept the island in place was beginning to unravel and as we saved the demons from the island in the process I… took some magic, when we were in the time stream."

The fish was done and Artemis finished it as quickly as he had downed the other one. This one definitely tasted better than the first one and Artemis felt like he could go some time now without needing food. Or maybe he would need a third. Hiccup prepared another fish.

"You said you can prove you come from the future. How?"

Artemis smirked. "Well, I'm working on some ideas… It's not that important really." Hiccup pressed on, but Artemis didn't want to spill the beans on how he could prove it. Hiccup continued to ask questions and Artemis fleshed out his background. Hours passed by as the two talked: About Holly Shorts kidnapping, about Opal Koboi's madness, about Jon Spiros overconfidence, about Julius Roots death, about No 1 being a warlock, about Butler being his best friend and Juliet being Butlers sister, about the Fowls as a family – his moters sickness and his fathers rescue was also discussed, as well as the twins were also discussed – about Foaly being the technical genius (Hiccup didn't understand most of the things Artemis said about this guy. What the hell was a computer?), about Mulch being the unmentioned hero and about all the things in between. Artemis then stifled a yawn and began wrapping up the last details.

"…I wasn't supposed to have anymore magic left, but I still do and through some experiments, I've found that I can do three things. One, I can _Mesmer_. Two, I can heal small wounds. And three, I can see the intentions of people I meet. And now I realize there is also a fourth, I can understand and talk to everybody."

"You can heal? Why don't you heal your broken arm then?"

"Maybe I'll try later, but I do not feel strong enough right now." He didn't want to say he probably couldn't. "I am tired and need energy. However I can heal the bruises in my face." Without waiting, Artemis called his magic and when the buzzing in his ears was gone so was his black mark and Stoicks handprint. Hiccup gaped at Artemis' display of power. This was beyond anything he had ever seen. But he had developed a slight immunity to these kinds of things recently and he even found it easier to accept, that Artemis could do magic, than he had befriended a dragon. That was another question Hiccup wanted to ask – what about the dragons – but he was also quite tired and thought that he could just ask Artemis the next day. Hiccup went home to sleep leaving Artemis in the hut. Both fell asleep almost immediately.

By the way, I noticed I have now broken 100 hits! Thanks for reading, guys. I've found a good rhythm for writing a chapter a day and then using the next day to check for spelling errors and other mistakes, but I'm confident I can write faster now that I'm freed from school. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	6. Stone

Now my story broke 100 visitors! And I got review number two. It was also a positive and pointed out that Hiccup might not be totally in character. To reply to that one I must confess I have only seen the movie once (OMG, blasphemy) and I haven't read the books (OMG, more blasphemy). But the movie was really good. The rest of the info comes from me constantly reading the Wikipedia page and trying to remember the movie. I hope you'll still enjoy the story, though.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though .

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 6: Stone.

Earlier that evening, Stoick had been walking towards the arena. He was confident in the strategy he had just spent a quarter of an hour preparing. He was going to open the door when the night was at its darkest and thunder roared everywhere. He was then going to intimidate the second answer from the boy; that was the most important question after all. He couldn't care less about who the boy was – he was an enemy and that was enough – but the question of where he had come from was important. While the Fowl kid had told him he was from some sort of Empire he needed to know where this Empire was so he could deal with it. _Artemis Fowl_, Stoick thought, _what sort of name is that even _supposed _to be?_

The name was definitely weird. While Stoick the Vast was a good name – it was hideous which scared away gnomes and trolls – and Hiccup was even more so, Artemis just wasn't going to cut it. Either the boy had wanted a name to attract danger – which was practically suicidal – or it was a fake name. If it was the last then he had managed to fool even him, for which he was going to pay. Stoick swore that if there was any slipup with the boy that even remotely hinted he was lying, then Stoick would have to use more drastic means. But until then Stoick expected Artemis to give in to the intimidation and spill the information. Perhaps seeing the dead body of their heir would cool down the Fowl Empire and scare them off from a war.

While Stoick crossed over the arena floor, heading straight for Artemis' cell, he couldn't help but wonder about Hiccup. It was a disconcerting feeling – a welcome feeling, but nonetheless disconcerting – that his son was now a great dragon warrior. When he had first heard, he had been disbelieving, but willing to accept that his prayers had come true. He had caught his son, trying to bring up a conversation… but it had fallen awkwardly to the floor. Hiccup had been on the defensive – clearly missing out on a chance to brag about bringing down the different types of dragons – and though Stoick had tried to give the boy a chance to speak, nothing came. The conversation had ended with Hiccup pretending a yawn – it was really obvious – and his father had from then on felt that nagging feeling that something was off.

For now it would have to wait however. Opening the door with a loud bang, just as a thunderclap roared in the distance Stoick entered the cell. He silently thanked Thor for the help with the intimidation and scanned the cell… There was no one inside. For a moment Stoick considered if he had entered the wrong cell, but seeing the toppled stool in the room, he knew what had happened. The boy had escaped. "Curses," mumbled Stoick.

He immediately began running towards the docks. There was no time to lose. The Vikings had all gone peacefully to sleep and there weren't a lot of watchmen on the lookout as the storm protected them from a dragon raid. This meant it would be easy to steal a ship. However if he were fast he would definitely be able to catch up with Artemis if he had stolen a ship. He might have the power of words, but he definitely did not possess the muscles of 30 Vikings. Stoick was running quite fast for someone his size. Anyone associated with him would have sworn there was a devil possessing the man, especially his eyes. All he could think about were the ways he would torture the kid once they had caught him. The wind was harsh and brutal, but it did not slow Stoick down as he came crashing down through the village like an avalanche. Reaching the docks he quickly looked around. And stopped as he realized no ships were missing.

Stoick smirked. Maybe the boy wasn't as stupid after all. He had hidden himself somewhere on the island – it was the only explanation. Stoick would enjoy taking his mind off his family issues and focus on hunting a spy. For now however he decided he needed sleep. He went back up through the village, reassuring some of the families who had woken up from his thunderous descent, and entered his own house. Maybe he would have been surprised that Hiccup was missing, if Hiccup had been a normal Viking. It was usually during the night you built up strength and energy for the coming day's fights. But Hiccup was Hiccup; experimenting with his "automated" weapons was part of his personality and he usually did these experiments whenever an idea occurred to him. So Stoick just went to bed, silently swearing to himself that Artemis Fowl would regret this day, but at the same time savoring it as his last day.

(An undefined amount of years away from this moment)

Butler paced back and forth, through the familiar hallways of Fowl Manor. He was still having difficulties understanding what exactly had happened, but he had calmed down. He had calmed down knowing that he was not without options. He used a trick Artemis had told him only to use in emergency situations. He had written an email to his own account in which he explained that he needed help. Foaly took ten seconds to respond. Before he could fire off a witty remark, Butler explained the seriousness of the situation and requested the presence of Holly and No1. And now Butler was waiting for the two fairies, the elf and the warlock, to arrive.

He was desperate. When Artemis had vanished three years ago through a much similar portal, Butler had been heartbroken, but he had been reassured that Artemis had a plan. It had been part of the plan. Three years without Artemis had shown just how much changed when the young teen wasn't around. While Minerva had been coming around to visit, it just wasn't the same without Artemis. He had been reading fiction to think of something else, rather than think of how much different everything would be if he had not decided to step away from a certain door for four seconds. But Artemis had returned.

Artemis had then settled down with the twins and his Mother and Father showing more affection for all of them and for Holly with whom he had conversations every so often that brightened up his day. He had changed for the better. The only problem had been the lack of mental stimuli that brought Artemis to his knees. He was extremely bored. And then along came another plan and suddenly everything was chaos. Butler tried to focus on something else and noticed Artemis Fowl sr. strolling around the hallway, calling for the twins. He looked worried.

Butler asked: "What is the matter, sir?"

Artemis Fowl sr. replied: "It's the twins, Butler. They are nowhere to be found and I have now searched the house three times over. I'm afraid of where they might be. Maybe they have escaped the house!"

"Calm down, sir. The gates are closed and have been so all day. If you stop and think: Where do the boys usually hide? They hide in the most hard to come by areas of the house. Then what place can they not hear you when you call? My guess is they found some way into the attic – maybe a hole in the roof of some kind."

Artemis sr. looked at Butler, reassured: "You are right, of course. I have not yet checked the attic yet because of my leg. Maybe that's why they hid themselves there. But it looks like I will have to surprise the boys – I can climb a ladder."

Artemis sr. quickly turned around and walked around a corner. As soon as he was gone, two creatures materialized beside Butler. "Kids these days," said one of them, "testing their parents' capabilities just to test them. I'd say that side of the twins' reminds me of Artemis."

"He is gone, Holly. He vanished through a portal. There was nothing I could do." Butler turned towards the two fairies. Without wasting any time he said: "Time travel. Artemis' newest project was restarting your experiments on the subject. But before he could say anything more he stepped through this portal and…"

"And now you hope we can do something?" interrupted No 1. He did not like seeing the big Mud Man in this state. He had heard horror stories of what people could do when they were sad, and he did not want to find out what would happen if sadness truly happened to Butler. So he brightened up and smiled to Butler before saying: "And you will be glad to know we can do something! Although it will take time."

"No matter how long it takes, we must find Artemis. Without him, the Fowls will fall. Trust me you don't want to find out how that looks."

Holly winced. If Artemis had been willing to go the considerable distance he had gone for his parents, how far would his parents go for their son? "No, we don't want to know that."

"Then follow me." Butler walked towards a door and the two fairies followed him. "In here," he said while opening the door to a familiar room. It was the room that had been rebuilt as Holly's prison. _Bad memories_, she thought shuddering as if someone had just walked on her grave. She would not be dragged into this room by ten trolls. But she would do it for Artemis, she decided. She was to protect the warlock while he tracked the traces of the time stream. This was a delicate procedure so Butler was to ensure it didn't come to that, by standing guard outside the door. _We're coming for you Artemis_, three souls thought, _just hang on_.

(An undefined amount of years away)

It was morning when Hiccup awoke. He was still feeling tired, but he had to get out of bed if he wanted time to do anything. He had been lying awake thinking about the unrealistic situation. Artemis hadn't been kidding when he said it was a difficult choice; between knowing and not knowing. Hiccup had always known death would arrive to him, to everyone, at some point, but it wasn't something you thought about deeply. They were Vikings. Death was an occupational hazard when you were a Viking. However the fact that Artemis could read about Hiccup's death made it that much more real and it was bothering Hiccup for an hour before he fell asleep.

However now, as he was waking to a bright new day, he wondered if Artemis could actually do that. Could he just decide the future? Hiccup got to thinking that the future possibly wasn't set in stone. Artemis had said: "This history needs to happen." "Needs" to happen, not "does" happen. And how bad could an alternate reality actually be? A future where the Vikings didn't vanish. A future where there were no wars between humans and dragons and a future where there was only one big tribe. How could that possibly be bad?

Hiccup began making his way to the small hut where he had left Artemis. He thought some more about his idea, how he could present it to Artemis… but then he realized. If Artemis was here, right now, that meant his future was actually set in stone, because for Artemis to know what he knew he would have to be born in a time with no Vikings. Hiccup felt a twinge of sadness from this thought – he had just wanted a peaceful future, but it seemed like the world was against him, as usual.

At this moment, Artemis awoke. He had had a horrible night. He had nightmares from losing everyone he knew – possibly forever – he had woken up multiple times, he had trouble falling asleep, he had trouble with his broken arm hurting and now when he tried to get up he felt sore everywhere in his body from lying on the wooden floor. Artemis grumbled, clearly displeased, just as Hiccup opened the door. It took Artemis a moment to recover from his bad mood before he composed himself and politely asked: "Good morning Hiccup did you sleep well?" Artemis had decided to be nice to Hiccup as he was the only known thing Artemis could cling to. The rest of the world was filled with unknowns and as much as Artemis liked knowing more about basically anything, he had a feeling the world wouldn't like to part with that knowledge.

"Well… I've had better nights," Hiccup admitted. "And you?"

"This has without a doubt been the worst night I've experienced. But it could have been worse. I could have been lying in a cell or I could have been dead. So I thank you Hiccup for the rescue yesterday, I believe I never got around thanking you for that."

Hiccup didn't answer. He seemed to be considering something. When he finally said something it was "Don't mention it. I know now I did the right thing."

Artemis couldn't help but sneer at this: "Are you sure? Your body language says differently. It seems you are in doubt. If that is the case then ask me. Don't let it burn inside of you. It is bad for you psychologically speaking."

Hiccup wasn't used to saying whatever was on his mind except for when he was with Toothless. But Artemis had seen through him so he asked what he had been thinking: "Is the future set in stone?"

"What?" Artemis asked perplexed.

"Are you sure it isn't possible that you somehow come from the past and that the future is yet unwritten? Are you sure it isn't possible that the future could somehow be guided by us to a more peaceful one than the destruction of all Vikings? Are you sure there is nothing we can do?"

Artemis was shocked. Hiccup had given this matter a lot of thought and without Artemis realizing how much it had affected him. Maybe it was possible, maybe it was the reverse situation… but there was no proof. Artemis couldn't help but feel guilty for letting that piece of info slip. He looked at Hiccup and said some words that he hated saying. Whilst it would have been utterly impossible for Foaly to even say the words, Artemis had enough self-control to say: "I don't know. I'm not sure. But I can't gamble my own future, Hiccup. If it hadn't been so messed up… if I knew I wouldn't suddenly cause myself to never exist, I would do everything I could to help you."

Hiccup was suddenly angry at Artemis. He wanted to avoid having a peaceful future just because it might be uncertain whether or not it would mean his survival. Were these Artemis' true colors? But when he thought about it… if it had been Hiccup who had been lost in time, he would have done everything to try and return to Berk, to his friends and family, even though they thought of him as Hiccup the Useless. Artemis on the other hand had friends and family who loved him; how far would he then go to find his way home?

Hiccup desperately racked his brain for any idea that would break this stalemate. He thought he owed it to Toothless to try and find a peaceful future, but if it was impossible what was the point? Suddenly, it hit Hiccup. It was a tiny idea, but it could work. He had noticed it yesterday, but it hadn't really hit with that much impact. Dragons! Artemis had clearly explained all of the families of fairies to him. But there had not been a single mention of any dragons. He wasn't quite sure of what to make of it; what if Artemis had just thought there was a mutual understanding between them and the fact that dragons were around was obvious? However it was definitely worth a try. Hiccup casually asked: "Then… fine. But a last question: What does the word "dragon" mean to you?"

Artemis was now completely puzzled. Had Hiccup gone mad? But then Artemis came around. _This must be some sort of test,_ he realized, _think Artemis, think_. Was there a Viking legend involving a dragon? Some sort of analogy between having the heart of a dragon and the courage of a Viking? Or was it a question of what dragons mean to someone from the future? In which case it would be an easy answer: They are fictional creatures made up by man. Artemis just didn't see how Hiccup wanted an answer like that. So he answered: "I'm at a loss here. I do not know what your question was supposed to test. If you want complete honesty, then… I would have to say that they are a figment of the imagination. They aren't real."

Hiccup proceeded to say: "That's what I guessed."

Hiccup couldn't help but grin. The future wasn't decided just yet. Now he just needed to introduce Artemis to a certain friend of his. That should be proof enough.

Next chapter is Artemis meets Toothless. Quite possible Artemis will die from a heart attack at the age of fourteen and the story will end right then and there. Not! Has anyone noticed how each chapter has become progressively longer, even by just a few words. :-) How long can I keep that up while updating every other day? I don't know, but I'll have to find out.


	7. Magic

Phew, having vacation isn't all it's cracked up to be. I had to clean up my room yesterday… and it was quite frankly a bit of a challenge to release this on time (every other day = new chapter + every new chapter needs more words than the previous one) because I was so lazy about the whole ordeal. Hmm, but it is over and done. By the by, as a last random note *whispering* I've now broken 200 hits (!). Thanks for reading, everyone.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though .

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 7: Magic.

Artemis was following Hiccup deeper into the forest. The reason: They needed something to drink and drinking mead wasn't exactly to Artemis liking, so Hiccup had remembered there was a lake with fresh water a bit deeper into the forest. Artemis was still a bit mystified about his friend's outburst – the meaning of dragons and whatnot – but it had ended without Hiccups aura changing for the worse, so Artemis supposed it had been okay. He became more mystified when Hiccup left him shortly only to return with a basket filled with freshly caught fish and then proceeding to bring the basket with him as a rucksack. What would they need fish for?

However, despite the fish, the most mystifying thing was Hiccup's mood. Artemis deduced he was in a good mood from the way he walked – his shoulders raised, his head lifted and a determined walk, said everything Artemis needed to know. Finally he could contain his curiosity no longer.

"Why are you so happy?"

Hiccup stopped beside a fallen tree. It looked like something had smashed into it. He turned towards Artemis and asked again: "What does the word "dragon" mean to you?"

Artemis didn't answer the question – Hiccup had already heard his answer – but Hiccup continued: "You answered that they are a figment of the imagination. I asked you about the future and whether or not it was possible to change it. You answered that if you had any proof of the situation not being as straightforward as you thought you would do everything to help me realize that future. And now you ask why I'm so happy. I am happy because I have realized a way to convince you that this isn't your past, but something else. Now follow me to the lake."

The stunned Artemis tried to put the pieces of this statement together. Unfortunately his super genius came up with the most likely answer before they had even gone ten steps. _Hiccup believes in dragons_, Artemis thought. _Oh, man, this isn't going to end well._ Artemis tried to catch up to Hiccup who had gone ahead; down a hill, through a trench and into a clearing where a small lake was situated. How was he supposed to tell Hiccup he had gone mad?

'Say, you do realize you've lost it?' If Artemis had said that, he would probably get an immediate reaction, but it would most likely be hostile. On the other hand not telling Hiccup of the damages it could cause him if he did not acknowledge his madness, would be even crueler. Finally catching up to Hiccup, in the middle of said clearing, Artemis said: "Hiccup… I'm not sure how to put this but… dragons aren't real. It might be you have dreamt of meeting one, but I need you to understand that separating imagination and reality is crucial to keeping your sanity. I know your family… beats you… but you must understand that escaping reality through imagination isn't the way to deal with these kinds of problems."

Hiccup looked at Artemis as if he had swallowed some particularly strong brew and was speaking total nonsense. "My family beats me?"

"Yeah… don't they. Your father said he was the only one allowed to hurt you, and only because you needed it to become 'who you are today'"

"Gods, that's… Artemis, my father is a bit overprotective and I think he tried to make a point that made sense to him, but didn't really to anyone else. Well, I've been scolded for doing something wrong," Hiccup winced… _scolded at least once every week_… "But my father hurting me… no. That would be the job of either Snotlout or the twins', depending on who gets to me first. I was great bully material, you know."

Hiccup then smiled. "And as for my sanity, if I've lost mine then I think you've lost yours too. Artemis, meet Toothless. Toothless, this is Artemis, he is a friend."

Artemis was now mentally brought to tears. His only friend in this world was a mentally challenged person. Overcome with sadness, Artemis sighed deeply trying to think of a way out of this mess. And something answered that sigh behind him. Artemis jumped up and fell towards Hiccup while turning around. Landing face to face with a black snout, at the end of which two huge green curious eyes stared at him, was quite possibly even more unnerving than all of the previous days experiences put together. Artemis fainted, however upon coming into contact with the earth he woke up again. And he stared back into the big green eyes.

For five seconds – an eternity of silence – nothing happened. Then Toothless disapproved of Artemis by snorting and gestured for Artemis to leave. He then proceeded in a wide circle around Artemis to get to Hiccup and more importantly, the fish.

Trying to describe how Artemis was feeling during those five seconds would be pointless. A trained psychologist would lose his/her mind trying to delve into the absolute mess that was Artemis Fowl's thought process. Giving it a try anyway you would need to compare it with something. The first two seconds would be like arriving at the gates of Hell after leading the most kind and unselfish life ever and then getting smacked with a statement such as "you had the wrong religion, buddy, you're going to Hell." Or it could be like meeting Satan and he then proceeds by saying "I'm God and my brother whom you call God is actually Satan. It's a sort of internal joke, you know. Just for fun."

The line between fiction and fact had moved. If dragons were real what could also be real? Was everything he was seeing now real or was it an illusion? Artemis was now questioning his own sanity, but getting to that point, he realized he should pull it together. He then forced himself to rewrite one of his most trusted facts: Dragons do not exist. This was now changed to: Dragons do exist. And then he got around to seeing the possibilities in a dragon. What was fact and what was fiction about these creatures? If he could determine the dragon's powers he could definitely use those to find a way home. However as soon as he thought the word "use", Toothless immediately disapproved.

It wasn't as if Artemis wasn't extremely skilled at containing his true thoughts. It was just that Toothless was beyond skilled in reading a person's true intentions. It wouldn't be far off to say he could read a person's soul. Seeing the darkness in Artemis' eyes was enough to make Toothless lose focus in Artemis and concentrate on something more important. In this case, it was the fish – it usually was. They simply smelled way too good. Maybe if Hiccup had been sad, that would have been the more pressing issue, but as it stood now Toothless was hungry. As a final thought about Artemis, Toothless at least had enough sensibility in him to realize Artemis was not a threat, which was why he didn't casually growl to Artemis to get lost.

Hiccup was far too trusting for his own good. But Toothless liked that about Hiccup. This meant it would be up to Toothless to judge his new friend's character and he didn't exactly get off to a good start. Although Toothless had originally been interested in seeing Hiccup with another human, even curious in meeting another of Hiccup's species, this one was a bad pick.

And did Hiccup stand a chance against a hungry dragon at close quarters? About as much as you could expect. Soon Hiccup was lying on the ground beside Artemis, the basket was empty and Toothless thrummed contently. Hiccup hadn't even had time to say a single word before he had been assaulted and even after that he couldn't bring himself to scold Toothless for being hungry. He had – forgotten, no – displaced Toothless for a while and now things seemed to be all right again. During this entire process, Artemis had been deep in thought staring blankly into the space that Toothless' eyes had occupied. Artemis finally reacted when Hiccup got up and brushed off some of the dirt. He looked up at Hiccup who was smiling. "Proof enough?"

"I… am at a loss here. Yes, you have proven dragons exist, unless I really have gone thoroughly mad. Which means… I am not from your future, but I'm still lost somewhere I don't know. And… I did promise I would then help you. So… what do you need done?"

Hiccup became more serious. "What you must understand, Artemis, is that we Vikings are at war with the dragons. We want all of them to die, and they want all of us to die. At least… that's what I thought, however that isn't the case. Everything we know about dragons is wrong. They are peaceful unless they are attacked. The only reason they attack us…"

"… is to defend themselves. I see. So you want to convince your village of the dragons' innocence. And you plan on doing this, how?"

"I don't really know…" Hiccups words trailed. "Convincing my father would be a big step, but considering his attitude towards dragons… I don't think it is possible. I thought about straight up telling him, but… I'm afraid that if I do something wrong it'll be the end for Toothless."

"Tooth… oh." Artemis remembered. He could now turn around and stare insanity in the face… or he could ask another question. The latter seemed to be the best choice for now. "Why do you call him Toothless? Is he toothless? "

"Well, when I first brought him fish and he opened his mouth he had no teeth. However when he was about to eat the fish he pulled his teeth out. He has retractable teeth, you see. And well, the name just sort of stuck."

Artemis only listened to the answer with half an ear. His mind was working on trying to connect the pieces of this massive puzzle he had been thrown in. The biggest problem was of course his own problem – how was he going to get home? – but just as big was the reason behind it. He hadn't really had any time to sit down and really think about it. He remembered feeling that something or someone was behind the time stream, directing it, controlling it. Who would want Artemis in this time? Artemis rounded up the conclusion in the time it took Hiccup to finish his explanation. _Someone wanted me dead!_

Artemis asked another question: "So, are there other kinds of dragons?"

Hiccup began explaining about the different dragons, but this time Artemis didn't even listen. He needed all his focus if he was to find any meaning behind this. Someone – he didn't know who – had tried to kill him – he didn't know why – and had nearly succeeded. The biggest question was now why he/she hadn't tried again. It was an obvious chance and yet he had been spared until now. Was it overconfidence? Someone thought he would die in this world just by being there? Artemis Fowl was rarely angry. Even now only a slight fire burning deep inside him made itself known as anger. He felt like he was being thoroughly underestimated. And he would be sure to return the favor to his unknown adversary, at least make him feel as helpless as Artemis had felt.

Hiccup was beginning his explanation on the Monstrous Nightmare, when suddenly Artemis interrupted him. A plan was formulating from his incredibly sparse knowledge, and yet he believed it could work. He asked: "Are these other kinds of dragons the same as Toothless? Are they friendly as well?"

"Yes. I've tested out the same tricks that I found to work on Toothless and seeing the same results I'm pretty sure the other dragons can be convinced. However convincing the entire village… That is the real challenge."

"Can you teach me how to make these dragons friendly towards me?"

Hiccup thought about this idea. "Well… Toothless didn't accept you, but he didn't try to scare you away either. So I think you're on the fence and could go either way." Hiccup then suddenly realized. "Can't you speak with Toothless? Convince him that you're a friend?"

Artemis smiled at the idea. It didn't hurt to try, but Artemis didn't have high hopes. While looking into Toothless' eyes he had also seen part of Toothless' intentions and personality. He was a proud dragon, and pride usually means stubbornness issues. Artemis should know; he had the same personality trait. Slowly getting up, as to not hurt his arm, he turned towards Toothless. The dragon had curled up around itself and was looking at him. This was the first time Artemis got a really good look at the magnificent creature. It was a dark color – not exactly black, more of a darkish blue – and the only thing you could look at other than its streamlined body and flickering tail was its huge green eyes. They felt like they were piercing through his soul, uncovering his darkest secrets. Artemis didn't really know what to do, but taking a deep breath and stepping forward he said: "Uhm, would… would you be willing to give me another chance?"

Toothless snorted. For a moment he considered the boy's accent, but at least it was better than not being able to speak. Then he was amused that the boy knew dragonese. And finally he focused on the question itself and realized the boy was asking the impossible. So he replied: "Whether or not you speak our language, no dragon will trust you. You could try for a hundred summers and you would fail for each and every one of them. If you want another chance, get rid of the darkness in your heart. Learn to trust." And with that he closed his eyes as a sign of not wanting to say anything else.

Artemis felt defeated. Trust, Artemis felt, was something that had to be earned. It couldn't just be randomly given to a stranger. He didn't have the courage to just trust. He felt he needed knowledge before trust. And that is why he felt defeated. To change a person's nature so drastically was… not very probable. To change his own nature would be even more so. But then Artemis realized something. He had trusted Hiccup. True, he had demanded actual payback, but when it had come down to deciding, Artemis had put blind faith in Hiccup by crawling into the barrel. And though it had been reckless, risky, and above all stupid, it had paid off. Had he changed without even noticing?

Meanwhile, Hiccup somehow understood that Artemis needed time to think. He was a bit envious at Artemis for his ability to speak with Toothless. But at the same time he felt he didn't need it. He and Toothless already understood each other and the details weren't really important. He was just relieved that Artemis at least seemed to still have a chance. He also remembered he had to get to dragon training soon. So he left the two in the clearing. He knew that Toothless wouldn't actually hurt Artemis. He wouldn't. No, he wouldn't.

Artemis sat down in front of the dragon as if he was meditating. Focusing on the concept of blind faith, and going over the previous day again and again, he understood he had changed. Not by much, but perhaps by enough. But how could he make the dragon understand that he was up for the second chance. Maybe if he took a risk. Artemis then knew which risk he would have to take – to gain the attention of the dragon. What Artemis was thinking about would be putting faith in his own abilities. Then perhaps putting faith in others wouldn't be as hard. And from faith to trust couldn't be that much more of a step, could it?

"_Without risks it wouldn't be the same."_ He had said that to Butler, but was he prepared to follow through? Before he could regret it, he focused on calling his magic, directing it towards his broken arm. It suddenly felt like the bone was melting, and a warm feeling spread through his body. Artemis shrugged; he was a bit ticklish. Blue light was emerging from underneath the bandage. Artemis grunted from exhaustion, but he still needed a bit more so he pushed more of his magic towards the injury. And from that final push his bone solidified again and it was whole. Artemis couldn't help, but lift his arms to the air in triumph… only to realize the bandage was still holding his arm in place and he fell backwards as he lost his balance.

Toothless had seen the scene with half an eye and couldn't help but laugh when Artemis got up. And because Artemis actually understood what a dragon laughing sounded like, his face was completely red from embarrassment when he got up. Artemis quickly ripped off the bandage to avoid repeating his mistake. Looking again at Toothless' eyes, the dragon realized the enormity of the change within Artemis. If the mixture between good and evil had been (crudely) measured to be 55 – 45 percent before, it was now 65 – 35 maybe even 70 – 30. This boy was definitely something. But it wouldn't be enough just yet. Not for Toothless anyway. So when Artemis approached him from lack of any response, he immediately grinned evilly. _See if you can catch me,_ he thought and with an acrobatic movement began jumping around the clearing.

At first Artemis didn't understand what was going on. He had come closer to the dragon showing the dragon his hands as a simple defensive maneuver just in case the dragon decided to be hostile from him approaching. When there hadn't been any movement, he had thought he was in the clear. Suddenly the dragon had smirked – could dragons even do that? – and jumped away from him. He was standing confused, but when the dragon slowed down he could see it in its eyes. _Catch me if you can_. Artemis hated physical exercise, but when a playful dragon wants to play tag… you don't question it, you just do it. The consequence of not following could result in more pain… and Artemis felt he'd had enough of that.

Whew, local time is now midnight now that I'm done spellchecking. If I missed some, it must be me being tired and I apologize. I'll go through the chap again tomorrow… when I've slept. See you in two days?


	8. Chosen

You can't call it writer's block if it only lasts for one day, right? Nothing came to me during an entire day, but waking up and seeing someone has "faved" my story is a good idea booster . Thanks! Anyway, this is the first chapter where I describe a scene from the movie. Hopefully I remembered it correctly. And finally today's random statistic: I had 42 hits yesterday = the highest single day amount and also the meaning of life, the universe and everything :-).

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though .

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 8: Chosen

While Hiccup was physically present at dragon training, his mind was far from present. He was juggling the options for how to actually achieve peace in Berk for the first time in seven generations – which may have sounded like a long time, but was in actuality "only" around 70-100 years. This proved to be increasingly hard as training progressed. The first distraction was the fact that his father was standing, along with the rest of village, around the edges of the arena and watching his battle. There were a lot of eyes on him, and while he was used to that, he was still quite new to the prospect of being cheered at. His father wasn't cheering though, but was looking at the fight in a calculating manner.

This was because Stoick, from a strategic viewpoint, didn't really see Hiccup's plan. The trainees were up against a Gronckle and chaos was dominating the battlefield. Only Astrid seemed to have the right idea – seeking cover from the small wooden covers that had been set up as the "field", slowly approaching the dragon without being noticed. Hiccup on the other hand didn't seem to do anything. He was standing in the wrong position completely – not at all compatible with the dragon's movements. The grip on his axe was all wrong – he would have no chance of reacting to an attack. His breasthat (Wear it proudly, Hiccup) was a bit slanted, which really did make him look pathetic (although, that could be a strategy, Stoick supposed). At least he held the shield at an acceptable height.

Suddenly however the Gronckle changed directions, firing a firebolt towards the crowd who skillfully dodged the shot letting it fall harmlessly into the ocean. This changed movement was interesting because suddenly, it seemed Hiccup did not have to do much more than let the dragon come to him if the dragon continued moving forward. Had Hiccup seen this development? Was Hiccup _really_… Had he _really_ held out on him? Was he strong enough to take down the dragon? Stoick found himself a bit more drawn to the battle.

Hiccup however had absolutely no strategic thoughts going through him right now. The dragon passed him by following the arena's edge in a clockwise motion and never saw the scrawny Viking. This was because Astrid had dragged him down beside him, behind a wooden cover. Hiccup once again found himself pulled back to the real world when Astrid got into his face and said: "Stay out of my way. I'm winning this thing!"

"All right. By all means," Hiccup answered and Astrid rolled to another cover. Hiccup got up, again noticing the entire village and waved a hand casually. He decided there were too many distracting factors in this place to really think about his next move. Quickly scanning the arena he moved towards the dragon. The dragon continued the clockwise motion around the arena and when the dragon came round, Hiccup looked it in the eyes – no hostility, only compassion. The dragon didn't even resist as he quickly found and scratched the soft spot underneath its chin and the dragon passed out. He then turned and saw Astrid's horrified expression as she realized she had been too late. She had been running towards the dragon with lifted axe, but now she stood as number two. Again. She began wildly swinging her axe into the air, muttering a lot of unmentionable curses as she went.

Stoick was at a loss of words. It all happened so fast. It looked like Hiccup had just stared the dragon into submission, followed by a precise, but apparently extremely effective punch to its heart, making the dragon immediately fall unconscious. Was such a thing even possible? On a Gronckle no less, the dragon with the toughest skin! Stoick couldn't help but laugh. He felt proud for Hiccup. But he also felt relief; something just seemed to click inside of him and all his worries just seemed to disappear. He had now seen, with his own eyes, his son, whom he had thought to be a curse, become a Viking. It was time for the Elder to decide who should kill their first dragon: Astrid or Hiccup. Stoick yelled to the crowd: "Wait, wait…"

Hiccup was about to leave; he didn't want to be overrun by his "fans", and he needed time to think about the next step. "So, later…" he said and walked towards the exit. However Gobber wasn't about to let the boy go. His hook hatched on to Hiccups collar as he said: "Oh, oh… Not so fast."

Hiccup defended, trying to get out: "I'm kinda late for…"

However Astrid was extremely pissed, and now when the battle was over, her suspicions were through the roof: "WHAT! Late for what exactly?" She pointed at Hiccups throat with her axe, seeming to struggle with herself not to hurt the winner as that would be dishonorable. She was interrupted from this inner struggle when Stoick announced the Elder had decided. She was the obvious choice – whether or not Hiccup was doing something. She would be the final winner. She WOULD!

Gobber lined the two up and lifted his left arm, indirectly asking the question 'Is it Astrid who should have the honor?' Incredulously the Elder hesitated and began shaking her head. The entire village said "ooh". Gobber then lifted his right arm under which Hiccup was standing looking like he had just swallowed a deadly poison. The Elder nodded and pointed her stick in Hiccup's direction while putting on a smile. The village shouted – Hiccup had been chosen. Gobber almost jumped with joy: "Oy, you've done it. You've done it Hiccup, you get to kill the dragon!"

Fishlegs immediately went and lifted Hiccup for all to see, while the rest of the trainees celebrated – except Astrid who was looking angrily at Hiccup. No one saw that though and everyone heard Stoick's booming voice when he said: "That's my boy."

Hiccup laughed nervously. This was definitely NOT part of the plan. It was so far from the plan he might as well give up. However, out loud he said: "Yeah! Yes, I can't wait, I am so…" _leaving_. That would be the only way to get out of this. He didn't say that though. Instead he settled with "…going to kill that dragon." He had always wanted to make his dad proud. And he was happy his dad was proud of him. But this was… wrong. A dark mood, which was only betrayed by his eyes, covered his thoughts as he was carried to the Mead Hall. Everyone wanted to hear how he downed the dragon, even though they had just seen him do it…

(An undefined amount of years away from this moment)

Butler could stand it no longer. He had been very patient. Standing guard for thirteen hours straight, all through the night. No one had come by. No one had spoken to him in thirteen hours. Now however, he was beginning to lose it. Guilt plagued his mind. He knew he had lost fifteen years of his life to a bullet from Arno Blunt. However he had continued to be Artemis' bodyguard, for sentimental reasons. He should have left the job to protect Artemis, but Artemis had been Butler's only friend and that kind of judgment should have cost "the blue diamond" immediately. Some part of Butler knew that he would not have been able to stop Artemis from entering the big portal – no one would have been fast enough. And yet standing alone with guilt haunting him for thirteen hours had nearly broken him.

He had to know. He entered the room after knocking the correct code on the door, just so Holly wouldn't blast his head off as he entered the room.

Holly immediately recognized the bodyguard's facial expression. He did not look well. She expected her own face to mirror his – sick with worry. The warlock was still locked in the same position as he had when Butler had left the room and the only sign of life was the occasional blue spark that exploded from him as he revised the search.

The search had not gone well. Whoever had done this to Artemis had covered his/her tracks extremely well. No 1 was trying everything he had learned from Qwan, even a few of his own techniques and yet there was still no clue of Artemis' whereabouts. Every time he revised the search – to look in a different time period, to search for another frequency of time – the trail got colder. Every time it got harder to see past the background noise – the natural time that passed around him – and it got harder focusing when they were all worried about Artemis. The tenseness of the room could have been scraped off the walls, put into cans and sold as extra rare and tasty gelatin. Now on sale.

Butler broke the silence with a rasping voice: "Any luck?"

Holly just shook her head. She didn't dare say the words lest they come true, but she knew that they would probably never see Artemis again. Just as a moonsick demon travelling forever between the covers of time, Artemis was most likely lost forever. Usually traces of time took between 10 minutes and two hours to track. This one had gone on for thirteen hours with no end in sight. And yet, she refused to give up. The mud boy had been a friend… was still a friend. And friends help each other. Where could he be?

Butler walked out again. His mood hadn't improved at all. But he also wondered where Artemis could be. Was he hurt? Was he… gone? Left to his thoughts, the hours passed.

(An undefined amount of time away from that moment)

Artemis wasn't hurt. He could technically be considered gone, but not in the way Butler feared. It would be more the "lost" kind of "gone". However, these weren't thoughts that passed through the teenage Fowl. The immediate thought was _Gods, I shouldn't have done that._ Which was referring to the state Artemis was in after just five minutes – ! – of tag. Artemis was not at all graceful, running around trying to catch the dragon. It hadn't really helped when the dragon had started teasing him. As it was doing right now.

"No power left? Are you sure you are the same species as Hiccup? He ran around for ten straight minutes trying to saddle me – he even caught me – and he was just a bit out of breath. You are face down in the grass, not even having enough power to stand on your legs after half that time. You can do better than that."

Artemis was a bit pissed off at this statement. Maybe it was because of the similar build of Hiccup and him that the dragon's argument hurt, but while Artemis had always used his brains, which had made his form suffer, Hiccup apparently had an okay form… from running away from dragons whenever his experiments failed. And suddenly Artemis knew what he had to do.

Getting slowly to his feet Artemis saw the dragon backing away – maybe a bit surprised Artemis wasn't completely down for the count. Artemis then said: "You know I should thank you for realizing I was dealing with the situation the wrong way. Yeah, I might not possess physical prowess, but I do have the brains to figure out how to deal with you. You want me to catch you, right?"

Toothless saw no problem with this statement. If the human caught him, then that would be it. However the actual chances of Toothless slipping up… were dwindling into the single digits. The provocative nature of the confidence Artemis was using in his speech pattern was getting to the dragon. He should know; he used the same confidence in his own speech to inspire Artemis to try harder. Now however there was no way Artemis was going to catch him. "If you can. You should know though that you did give it a good try." This last statement was sarcastic; Artemis hadn't even come close to the acrobatic dragon.

"Yeah I did, didn't I? Now, my next question would be about what sort of means I'm allowed to use to catch you. Would it count if I could hit you with a stick that I threw?"

Toothless knew Artemis was stretching the rules to allow for his mental superiority make up for his physical inability to do anything. And Toothless still didn't see the problem in allowing Artemis to throw sticks at him. After all he was proud of his reaction speed. Maybe it would make the game more interesting. Toothless snorted. Yeah right.

"You can throw as many sticks as you would want to. However I think you will be disappointed with the results."

Artemis' smile widened. "Then, my final question. If this stick happened to be something else, as long as it came from me, it would count, correct?"

The way Artemis phrased it, he sounded like he had hope. Or even knowledge that he _would_ capture Toothless, with these new rules. This intrigued Toothless. What had Artemis come up with? Filled with curiosity and playfulness Toothless agreed. If stones or water came towards him, he would be just as graceful avoiding that, as he would a stick or Artemis himself. "Let the game restart," Toothless said, and then waited until Artemis made the first move.

Artemis knew he had the dragon. It would learn _never_ to underestimate a Fowl again. And he would win their little game. It was perfect. Now he just needed to look inconspicuous. Artemis began scanning the clearing and seeing a stick on the ground he knew what to do. Walking towards it casually he knew the dragon was watching him. It was prepared for sudden movement, but what would it do if that movement never came?

Toothless was watching Artemis intensely. Because Artemis was actually walking away from him, the dragon didn't even bother to move. Artemis picked up a stick – the same Hiccup had used to draw him – and Toothless was ready. But Artemis just slowly got up again and turned around. The boy casually returned to the spot, he had fallen exhausted before. He then made a quick 180 and threw the stick across the clearing. Toothless was dumbfounded.

Artemis turned again and stared directly into the dragon's eyes. Toothless wondered if the boy had gone mad and looked back. When Artemis spoke however, it sounded like he was possessed by the Sky Lord himself. "You will walk towards me now. Slowly." And to his horror, Toothless began walking towards Artemis. He had been tricked! The magic was pulling at his conscious self, but subconsciously Toothless was fighting a battle against himself. One step at a time Toothless moved towards the eyes. Unable to look away, his subconscious made his body shudder, trying to regain control. But it was too late. Toothless stopped in front of Artemis. If Artemis wanted to he could catch him now.

But Artemis hesitated. He had the chance to win. But it would be a technical win, not a real win. He was trying to get Toothless to trust him. By playing this game they had tested each other, gotten to know each other. Was he going to let that slip away just to win? Artemis realized he suddenly didn't want to win this way and he released the spell.

When Toothless felt the magic subside, the first feeling that came back was anger. But it was quickly dismissed, as he thought back to how he had been underestimating the boy. He had been overconfident and the way Artemis had phrased his questions had set a brilliant trap for him. He would have accepted his loss. The only question left was why. "Why? You could have won."

"The original intent of the game wasn't whether one of us 'won' or not. We're both way too stubborn for allowing the other to win. I only just realized that the goal was to bring me to trust you through a friendly game – with a competitive edge. If I could do that then you would in turn trust me. And thinking about it like that, the only way to complete the goal would be to catch you fair and square." Artemis cringed at this last bit, but it was the only thing that sounded "right". If Holly had caught him speaking about "fairness"… Artemis shuddered; he didn't want to think about Holly right now. He was still unsure of whether or not he would ever see her again.

Toothless accepted the reason as well as the analysis. He then proceeded to lie down. He trusted Artemis now. Maybe not wholly, but to the degree that Artemis wouldn't think of him as an "it" anymore and certainly wouldn't "use" him. On the other hand Artemis trusted Toothless wouldn't maim him or hurt him – at least not intentionally. And as for the game… it continued, though Toothless didn't care as much about it anymore. Artemis was distracted by something else at the moment, though.

Artemis finally saw why Toothless hadn't flown at all – a glide, yes, but no flight – during their game. Now that Toothless was lying still Artemis saw that one of his tailfins was missing. In its place, a replica made of leather and metal was attached. It was good handiwork, but nowhere near having the original's aesthetics. Artemis sat down with the dragon in the shade of a tree. He didn't touch the dragon, because that would end the game. Artemis still hadn't given up on the game, though it didn't mean as much anymore. Instead he asked questions, and Toothless was happy to talk.

Normally around this time Toothless would have to find some way of getting time to pass until Hiccup would return with the… saddle... and they would fly, talk, and enjoy each other's company. Now Artemis was helping pass that time and Toothless told Artemis the story of how he and Hiccup met, how they had gotten closer to each other and how they were now flying together. After that Artemis told Toothless his story, just brushing the subject. As the day began to move into its later stages - Artemis had only just begun his story - when Hiccup suddenly burst frustrated into the clearing.

It had been tough, but he had gotten rid of all his "fans" by moving through the house and coming out the back door, before sneaking into the forest. Thinking about how everyone seemed so happy that he was going to kill a dragon, an intelligent being… it wasn't such a great thought, and it left him in a sour mood. At least he had remembered to take the saddle with him.

Artemis was about to get up and move towards Hiccup, when he suddenly saw something that Hiccup clearly didn't. Hiccup loudly announced to the clearing: "We're leaving." Apparently Toothless had noticed the same thing as Artemis and they both stayed silent. For once Artemis' black suit helped him by keeping him from getting noticed.

Hiccup continued: "We're leaving. Looks like we're taking a little vacation… forever." Hiccup placed the saddle against a stone and began fiddling with it. A sharp sound stopped everything he might have considered doing after that. It was the sound of an axe being sharpened. Hiccup saw Astrid was sitting on the same stone as the one the saddle was leaning against. Hiccup stammered, stumbling backwards trying to adapt to the surprise. "Whoa! Wh-what are you doing here?"

Astrid jumped down the rock. "I want to know what is going on… No one just gets as good as you do… especially you. Now start talking!"

Yay, I made it! And we have now reached 3500 words. First chap was 2100. I can keep going (I think) :-). I must really thank the person who made this story his/her favorite. I think that kick started me. And with that said: when another two days pass… another chapter will be ready (hopefully).


	9. Convincing

Do you guys need tips on Norse Mythology? Short translation guide: Odin = God of gods, all-knowing ; Thor = God of thunder ; draugr = a walking dead. With that out of the way, today is the last day of vacation . And already the teachers are dealing homework left and right. Gah. Today's random statistic is a simple one: the story has broken 300 hits now. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though .

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 9: Convincing.

Hiccup could not for the life of Odin himself find the words Astrid wanted to hear. He was stammering, trying desperately to make sense, but to no avail. Astrid continued to assault him with accusations: "Have you been training with someone out here?"

"Training? No, I…"

"It better not involve this," she said pulling violently at Hiccup's flying harness, before releasing him again which sent him scuttling backwards trying to regain his balance. She was thoroughly enjoying seeing Hiccup in trouble, because if she could prove he was up to his neck in trickery, he would be disqualified as a contestant in dragon training and she would regain her rightful place as the best. It wasn't as if Hiccup didn't deserve to at least get some recognition. Astrid could give him that. It was just that she could not stand seeing someone, who had been weaker than her his entire life, suddenly reach up and receive Odin's blessing in battle and still be a complete twat, when it came to actually being a Viking. Hiccup would time and time again best her in training and yet his personality hadn't changed at all – he was still a coward, still afraid of getting hurt, afraid of being left alone. He was still… Aargh! And now he had taken her place as the best and he was still afraid, still weak… Astrid suddenly saw something moving in the shadows.

"Ok, ok, I know this looks bad…" Hiccup started, but Astrid was alert. Someone was moving in the shadows towards them. She called: "Show yourself!" She lifted her axe; ready to throw it if the shadow was hostile. She quickly laid down Hiccup with a violent twist that made the boy cry out in pain. "Now, why'd you have to do that…" he asked. But Astrid wasn't paying attention to Hiccup's needs. She was focusing on the figure that slowly came into the light.

"Relax, relax," the figure said. It was a boy, dressed in dark clothes. As he came into the light he looked more and more disturbing. First was the fact that his clothes seemed unlike anything Astrid had seen. He was wearing some sort of thin black cloth, with buttons in it. Underneath this outer layer, he had a white shirt and a piece of clothing Astrid had never seen hung around his neck. It wasn't a scarf, it was more of a… a talisman made of cloth. It was also quite long, going down to his waist, and black. His pants were also black and made of the same thin black cloth and his shoes were… very weird. They were made of black leather, but they had been formed perfectly around his feet unlike the Vikings shoes, which worked under the principle of three sizes fit all. In short the stranger looked very unnatural.

The second disturbing fact was his behavior. He had unusually pale skin, and his eyes were piercing and blue. He was wearing a confident grin, as if to say 'You can't hurt me'. And the way he spoke to her sounded like he was trying to tame a wild animal. It was quite frustrating to be talked down to. Astrid screamed at him: "Who are you?"

"Not important. Please let go of my friend."

Astrid spluttered. Not important! He was a complete stranger and he had just nonchalantly brushed off his one chance of redemption, his one chance of getting out of this place alive. Then she realized he was talking about Hiccup as "the friend", and she felt triumph overcome her. She had done it. Hiccup had befriended a stranger – some sort of draugr, perhaps, or maybe just an uncomfortable, untrustworthy fellow – and it was definitely enough to get expelled from training. "Ha! Was this what you were trying to hide?" He still had his face in the dirt and couldn't answer so Astrid settled with twisting his arm further. "That's for keeping secrets." She considered doing her trademark second hit, but decided that she didn't really hate Hiccup that much. She let go of him. "And you, you're in deep trouble, whoever you are," she said to Artemis.

"Sleep. You are tired." Astrid found she could not resist the thought of sleeping. The voice was right; of course she was tired. To hell with revealing Hiccup's secret, now she would sleep. She didn't really care about a big black dragon moving towards her and Hiccup. She didn't really care about anything other than sleeping. She lay down on the grass and soon began to snore.

Artemis moved towards Hiccup to help him up. "Are you all right?"

Hiccup was still shocked, his heart wasn't going to relax any time soon, but he did answer: "Yeah… I'm ok. I'm used to getting beaten around, you know."

Toothless was still angry at the newcomer for hurting Hiccup. He had been a bit conflicted between Hiccup's desperate attempts at dismissing Astrid peacefully and just jumping out and scaring her off. However when Hiccup had been exposed to continuous assaults from Astrid, Toothless didn't have much left for the "peaceful" approach. Luckily, Artemis had intervened and had incapacitated her before Toothless had done something worse to her. Toothless was impressed with the way Artemis somehow managed to make everyone underestimate him and then strike when they least expected it. It was a tactic unheard of – at least between the humans – but it was very effective. But he would never say that out loud, not as long as "the game" was still on.

Artemis countered: "You should avoid getting beat up. Be better at dealing with surprises. React to the surprise instead of letting the situation consume you. And find possibilities in a bad spot to make your position better. But anyway, what do we do with her? And what did you mean by 'we're leaving'?"

Hiccup gathered himself and told Artemis of the contest and that he had been chosen to kill his first dragon. Hiccup deliberately avoided using this exact choice of words, but Toothless understood and he was not very happy. But he did see where Hiccup was going with leaving. If they left, they would be free. If they left, there would be no more trouble with leading a double-life for Hiccup and it would at least ensure that Hiccup did not kill a dragon. However the boy would no longer have a home. He would no longer have a family; he would be running from the problems.

Hiccup was ending his story: "…and I can't… do it. I know I can't. I will not do it. That is why we just need to leave Astrid in the hunting hut and then we can fly away and look for a way to bring you back to your own time, Artemis."

"No." Artemis spoke the word with a conviction he did not know he possessed. Though Hiccup was talking about helping him find his way home, Artemis saw another option than the one Hiccup proposed. And this option would bring him closer to the place he had entered this place. If someone came looking for him, he would have to stay around. "I have another idea. I needed a test subject and now we have one. If we can convince one Viking of this prospect then we should be able to convince them all. I propose we test this on… her," Artemis couldn't remember her name, "and if we can do it then we take it to your father."

Toothless agreed. "That sounds reasonable. But throw the axe in the lake. We don't want her to get any bright ideas. Bright as in burned to a crisp if she tries anything."

Artemis translated to Hiccup and left the choice to him. Hiccup wasn't the best at resisting group pressure, but hearing the idea he supposed they could try. How it could go wrong? So he agreed… reluctantly. "Fine. But I'm warning you now, you two, Astrid is a tough one and won't give in to threats." His reluctance wasn't purely based on his secret crush on Astrid and that he didn't want to see her get hurt. It was also based on the fact that standing face-to-face with his father trying to convince the man of the concept of "change" would be just as hard as trying to make him take a new wife.

"We can be tough too," Toothless grunted and smiled evilly. The meaning was clear and didn't need a translation. Hiccup sighed.

Stoick the Vast was in a rare happy mood. Not since his wife had passed on to Valhalla, had he been this happy. Everything seemed to be fixing itself at a rapid pace. There had not been a raid during the three days Stoick had been back. Hiccup was the champion of dragons and he had an exceptional way of dealing with dragons that didn't require him to be big and burly. Though their recent hunt for the dragons' Nest had failed, the next time he would bring Hiccup and together as father and son they would end the war by finally eradicating all of the beasts. The only unnerving thing was the spy, Artemis, who continued to elude him. But Stoick wasn't about to let such things spoil his mood.

Though Artemis and his motives were unclear, Stoick was absolutely certain that Artemis was trapped on the island. And by then it was just a matter of time. Stoick even decided that his vow to catch Artemis could be slacked upon a little – they weren't in a hurry to catch a small fish. For now it would be Hiccup's showdown with the Monstrous Nightmare the next day that would occupy his thoughts. He was confident his son was capable of taking the head of the dragon, but he was still a bit worried. After all, the gods' were known for their hard-to-please attitude and if he or Hiccup were to become overconfident, they would consequentially be punished with bad luck. But this wouldn't happen. Stoick believed in his son.

Stoick was still amazed at the way his son had done away with the Gronckle. He would have to ask Hiccup for instructions on how to do that particular death blow. Though it had only made the dragon unconscious for a few minutes, it had been Hiccup who made the blow. And if Hiccup who had no muscle could make the dragon pass out for five minutes, then he was sure another Viking – such as himself – would be able to kill the dragon with the same blow. Hiccup would need to work on the attitude however.

Hiccup had been a bit less enthusiastic than Stoick had expected him to, when recounting how he had taken down the dragon. Hiccup hadn't been drinking any mead, hadn't told anything else than what he was asked about, hadn't been showing off and to top it all off Hiccup had somehow vanished. Some of the more dedicated villagers had been following him to their cabin and while that had kept them at bay for ten minutes, they had eventually entered the house with impunity and found Hiccup had gone out the backdoor. Stoick smiled at this.

He remembered the same behavior from himself. Sometimes when things had gotten just a bit too out of hand, when the situation had been just a bit too much, he had also gone hunting in the woods to get some alone-time. Some time to think of how their world was just a tiny bit messed up. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful to the gods for making Midgard and allowing the Vikings to prosper. It was just that when he had been younger he had thought of the war as pointless bloodshed and that the more sensible choice might be to settle down somewhere else. Then he'd gotten married and he'd had Hiccup. For a time he had felt unstoppable. For a time the world had taken its problems elsewhere and nothing had been able to put a crack in his happiness.

But something had gone wrong. A random raid had changed everything. He had held his wife in her arms as she lay dying. She had protected the very young Hiccup – who didn't understand what was going on – and then with her dying breath she had entrusted Hiccup to him. A task he had not been up for at the best of times, and a task he had cursed himself time and time again for taking. For a few horrible days, he had even cursed the gods – silently – for taking his wife and not him, but he would never speak of those days again. Watching Hiccup grow up had been almost as hard on him as losing his wife. The boy had almost no Viking qualities and Stoick was just about to give up when this… new Hiccup suddenly dropped onto him like Thor's Hammer.

Just a tiny bit woozy from drinking mead, he entered his cabin. Hiccup hadn't come home yet, but with the popularity who could blame him. There was still a crowd of about ten people outside the house. He wouldn't be left alone now or ever. Now he just needed the right attitude… Stoick fell asleep almost immediately. For once he didn't have a nightmare and he didn't fear waking up to the house burning down.

On the other hand, waking up and finding a dragon – a Night Fury no less – holding you down with its weight was the most frightening experience Astrid had ever had. What was it doing? First she tried to get up or do anything, but she was struggling in vain. She realized she'd probably had a better chance of staying alive if she played dead. If the dragon thought she was dead it would hopefully lose interest in her. She pretended to suddenly die and closed her eyes, praying to each god in turn that she would not suddenly feel a sharp pain somewhere on her body and find that the dragon had started eating her.

However a voice changed that. It said: "Open your eyes."

She almost believed she was dead now. Perhaps she just couldn't remember dying. But thinking about she thought she recognized the voice. It was Hiccup. "Astrid, wake up."

Astrid opened her eyes. The dragon was still on top of her, but now she saw Hiccup standing over her head. The experience was so surreal that it didn't even occur to her to begin screaming or shouting… until 12 seconds of awkward silence had passed. Hiccup quickly shushed Astrid and tried to hold a hand over her mouth to shut up, but she bit him. "Ow!" Hiccup jumped back.

Toothless immediately reacted by sticking his face extremely close to Astrid's face and showing her his teeth. Astrid stopped screaming and almost passed out from pure terror – and disgust: the breath reeked of fish – but she held on to her consciousness through sheer willpower. It didn't stop her screams for long though, but at least her words were sensible now: "Hiccup, you *censorship*, get me out of here!"

"Not until you hear me out; not until you give me a chance to explain," he answered.

"I am not listening to ANYTHING you have to say!" Astrid exclaimed.

"Then perhaps I should explain," Artemis began, "firstly, don't try to do anything funny, because Toothless really doesn't like you. And you really want Toothless to like you right now. Second, if you are not listening to anything he has to say, then how come you replied?" Artemis let the two facts sink in and then continued. "Now, for the unanswered questions racing through your mind right now: What are we doing? What is going on? Simple. We are trying to convince you of the fact that dragons are in fact not evil, but good. Or rather they are not hostile, but friendly. Now you are free to make a remark."

Astrid's head was spinning. Hiccup had gone mad! This guy had clearly poisoned Hiccup's mind beyond recognition. Or perhaps he was possessed. Or any other mad plot that made just as little sense as the one she had just heard. Dragons being friendly? The day that happened would be the day _after_ Ragnarok. That kind of thing… was… ridiculous. It was just wishful thinking and the kind that got you killed. She was trying to question whether the dragon lying on her was an illusion. "I'm not listening," she said, but with less conviction than before.

Artemis went deeper. "If you have any proof as to otherwise, then share it with us. Why do you doubt what we tell you?"

Immediately Astrid replied: "Dragons kill our families. They burn down our homes. They destroy without mercy. Nothing is left if we do not defend ourselves in the wake of the dragons' rage."

"Then why do you suppose those dragons are angry? Could it possibly be because you think of them as animals – non-intelligent beings – who can only kill. Or is it as you say; that when you tried to avoid killing the dragons they still began slaughtering you? If you stick to that conviction, then why has Toothless not already eaten us?"

"Because… because you are a spawn of Loki. You have somehow manipulated Hiccup and the dragon through poisonous words and I am not listening!" Astrid hoped that would scare away the illusion.

Hiccup burst in: "Why will you not listen? What can we do to convince you, what would you have us do?"

Artemis cursed. This was not the proper psychological way of continuing to make Astrid accept this new idea. Hiccup had just put everything on a limb. All or nothing. But he heard Astrid reply: "Let me go. If the dragon lets me go, I will believe you."

Hiccup nodded without a second thought. Toothless got up and stepped off Astrid. She got up slowly… and began running immediately.

Astrid hadn't thought it would be that easy getting away. But strangely none of her assailants were following her. Not even the dragon… This seemed like weird behavior. Could they have been telling the truth?

Artemis sighed. Back to square one. He was about to reprimand Hiccup from his outburst, but Toothless had already done that with a flick of his tail. So Artemis settled watching Astrid's figure run away. Only she didn't. She stopped just before reaching the exit.

Astrid was almost at the trench leading out of the clearing, when she had suddenly stopped. Her mind made up, she turned around with closed eyes and shouted: "I'm still not convinced." Then she followed up with. "But I can be." She opened her eyes and saw that she was still alive. None of the three had moved; all three were shocked.

Hiccup recovered first. He lifted an eyebrow at Toothless for being too fast to scold him (Artemis was glad, he hadn't reprimanded him; getting that look would have been too embarrassing), quickly told Artemis to wait in the clearing while he took care of things and then shouted to Astrid: "You need more proof? Then… fly with me and let me show you." He added under his breath to Toothless: "Be gentle, ok?" Hiccup walked closer to Astrid.

Toothless did not like this sudden development. Not only had Hiccup's gamble worked, which made for an embarrassing look, now he was also commanding Toothless around? No way. He still hadn't quite forgiven Astrid's violent tendencies against Hiccup. He would savor that grudge and have some fun with her – once they were in the air, Hiccup wouldn't be able to do anything. All Astrid would need now was to respect him, but she didn't. That would definitely change.

Hiccup had latched the saddle onto Toothless in case they had needed to catch Astrid if she wasn't convinced. So he just jumped onto Toothless' back and stretched a hand out to help Astrid up behind him. Astrid didn't take the hand though as she crawled onto the dragon. This particular thought (_I'm doing this… oh gods why am I doing this_) was echoing through her mind, but she still said: "Then convince me." And with those parting words the three flew off leaving Artemis behind.

It had worked. They had convinced her. However, Artemis concluded it would be too dangerous for Hiccup or Toothless to accompany him when they were to do the same with Stoick. The same thing could happen – a single slip-up – and Hiccup's father could be different from Astrid. It could end badly. Unless, Artemis went there alone. He knew he would not make a mistake and he was certain that if he got ten minutes alone with Stoick he would be able to convince him just as they had convinced Astrid. Well, it would probably end without Toothless giving a ride, but otherwise the chief would be convinced. You can't argue with logic.

So while Astrid was screaming her lungs out from a double backwards summersault, suddenly not so sure about her choice to trust Hiccup, Artemis made his way towards the village.

I'm going to be following Artemis for the next chapter as he walks into the lion's den. I will most likely skip Hiccup's romantic flight with Astrid – I don't think I can convey the feeling of love properly. I invented Hiccup's mother's death to fit with Stoicks hatred of dragons. Don't know if it is described in detail somewhere in the books but I haven't read those. Perhaps someone could tell how I'm doing so far. It would also keep the ratio intact (100 hits = 1 review) :-). Just wishful thinking.


	10. Stealth

Wow, I managed to squeeze in an entire chapter between my mother's birthday and my homework. This chapter was fun to write – Artemis Fowl is James Bond (cue music) – with suit and everything. Hopefully it'll be fun to read too :-). And for today's random statistic: 400 hits! Yay. I have no idea if that's a lot but I'm sure I think it's a lot of people. So thank you for reading.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . Do I have to keep writing this? Does anyone know?

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 10: Stealth.

Artemis was absolutely sure that by the time Hiccup would return, he would have reverted the entire village to the principles of peace. While he did expect a few stragglers to continue to want the war – there usually was the odd bunch that lusted for revenge or blood or pain – the majority would welcome this peace as it would be the logical approach to the situation. When a new concept that could be considered beneficial to all parts was introduced in a business, you made a few tests and if the tests were successful it would be subjected to a further trial period before being fully integrated into the mechanisms of that particular business. Therefore if Artemis could do a successful test – of which he had not even a sliver of doubt – the village would have to see the truth of the matter. The rules of logic were absolute.

And yet Artemis was at the same time going to have to introduce an extremely illogical concept. Having blind faith in your mortal enemy wasn't exactly the best strategy when it came to war. Artemis expected this would be the hardest part – explaining that the dragons would only come to them if they chose to accept, respect and trust the dragons as part of the village. When discussing the history of the village Toothless had provided him with a detailed "this is how it happened". Apparently the Vikings had been expanding and when they came to the island they had been the unlucky bystanders of a particularly vicious hunt. A huge greenish dragon had been hunting for food and the size of the firebombs that the dragon was spewing everywhere resulted in five Vikings getting killed. This had promptly been acted upon as the Vikings weren't new to bloodshed and after making an example of a few dragons the rest fled the island and sought refuge on a remote island covered in mist a bit east of the island.

However while the dragons only wanted to be left alone, the Vikings wanted more blood. And soon the dragons had to begin attacking to defend themselves. Even worse there was some kind of dictator among the dragons; the huge green dragon was pushing for power and for the past forty years, the rules had been simple: You steal food from the Vikings, kill a few in the process and if you don't come back with enough food you get eaten. If the dragons had banded together against the big dragon's menace maybe they would have been able to do something, but as it was they needed the dragon's firepower if the Vikings were to ever find the island.

Artemis' plan was in three simple steps. The first step was obviously to get the Vikings to see reason and make peace with the dragons. The next step would then be to persuade the dragons to overthrow their evil ruler. And the final step would be to somehow find a way home. The third part wasn't planned out, but the first two had been meticulously designed and the convincing of Astrid had been proof that the first part of his plan had merit. However Artemis had run into an unseen problem. The problem was of the plan-breaking kind. The problem was getting in contact with Stoick without raising suspicion among the rest of the village.

As described Artemis wasn't a physical kind of person. He was the planning, behind-the-scenes kind of person, one who only rarely ever did something himself. This time, he would have to do everything by himself. Getting from point A to point B had never seemed such a problem before. Artemis had a general outline of the village – from triangulating his initial overlook of the village with the amount of steps Hiccup had taken to get from the arena to the forest – but he didn't know about the different quirks or shortcuts of the village. He didn't know how he was going to get to the chief's hut, as the only time he had been through the village was inside a barrel. He didn't even know where the hut was, though he guessed it was either in the very center of the village or at the very top of the village. It wouldn't be at the docks as that would be the first place to be hit during a dragon raid.

Artemis was standing at the edge of the forest, in the shadow of a tree to hide himself. He was observing the small part of the village he could see. Interestingly, there weren't a lot of people around. Apparently, they were all sleeping, waiting for the inevitable hangover to come around the next morning. Artemis pondered why they had all gone to sleep when there was still light in the sky. He supposed it had to do with the dragon raids; you would need to be energized throughout the night if one of those came around. And the energy would have to come from sleeping at odd times of the day. _Odd for me_, he corrected, _normal for them_.

Making a decision – it would be easier to reach the top of the village – Artemis scurried up the hill sneaking in the shadows of the huts. Artemis had been questioning whether he should change into different clothes – his were a sorry mess by now – but the black color had helped him before so he put up with the smell of fish. Besides, everything else smelled of fish as well as it seemed to be the largest food source around. Artemis did know about the sheep though; Toothless had said he had tried some at some point and found it delicious, but he left the job of "sheepnapper" to a dragon more suited for the job. Artemis knew the dragon really liked to show off with his impressive marksmanship skills and Toothless wouldn't have been able to do that if he would have to carry sheep.

The Night Fury had been around for quite awhile, though he wouldn't say his exact age. He had been around for enough time to make it clear to the dictator dragon that he would protect his brethren as they made their getaway, but that he would prioritize himself and his own needs. The green dragon had been reluctant, but had agreed; having a Night Fury on ones side really did help with the quota for the rest of the dragons. So Toothless had obtained his quota by protecting the other's quotas.

Artemis forced himself back to reality when he was about to round a corner and a voice suddenly came from just around the corner. It said: "I think he's kinda hot, eh?"

Artemis backed up against the wall, hoping not to be discovered. The two persons – one male and one female – walked by without noticing him. They were equally tall and both had blonde long hair. Artemis couldn't see their faces, but he expected they were related, possibly they were brother and sister. "Eww, sis, you think he's hot?" Artemis couldn't help but gloat. Silently. He had been right again.

The female immediately growled at her brother. Luckily for Artemis she was the one on the right, which meant she had to look to her left to stare angrily at her brother. If she had been the one on the left… Artemis heard her say: "Yeah, well he can at least take down a dragon. That's more than what can be said about you!"

The brother was immediately on her: "Just because I didn't get a chance to show my complete dominance over all dragon's who oppose me, doesn't mean I can't show you!" The boy was about to throw himself at his sister when a third female voice called: "Ruffnut, Tuffnut, don't fight. Come and help me with…" Artemis couldn't hear the last part as the voice dropped into more soothing tones, but the fight stopped instantly when the two heard the third voice. He couldn't hear the last part because he expected, the brother to look towards his sister and notice Artemis, so Artemis had let himself fall onto the ground. The brother hadn't noticed the black suit lying on the ground when he had turned to face his sister and luckily the third voice calling had brought Artemis in the clear.

Lying still for five seconds before deeming it safe to continue, Artemis got up shakily. His heart was sitting in his throat. That had been too close. And there was still quite a ways to the top of the village. Grimacing, he tried to think of another way. And then it came to him. Artemis silently regretted doing what he was about to do, but it would be safer than trying his hands at another sneaking attempt. He breathed in deep and then he opened the door to the nearby hut. This one was as good as the next, he reasoned.

Entering the hut Artemis scanned the room. It was, in a word, different. Different from any other Viking Artemis had seen… maybe besides Hiccup. But he knew this wasn't Hiccups cabin. Drawings of dragons, books on dragons, dragon figures made of wood and notes on dragons written in numbers were all around. It was quite messy. Another door led into another room of the hut, but Artemis didn't need to see anymore. No one was home in this particular part of the house, which meant he could do what he wanted to do undisturbed. He turned around and stood face to face with a chubby Viking boy.

They both froze. The other stared at him intensely. The silence was broken when he dropped the book he had in his hand entitled "The Dragon Manual". Artemis noticed the book, eying it interestingly before returning his attention to the teen.

The Viking teen then opened his mouth to speak but seemed to hesitate. He then threw a questioning look towards Artemis but before he could ask, Artemis had already used the chance to say: "You will forget all about me. And the book you are holding."

Fishlegs was completely beside himself. He could forget the stranger in his room easily. But forgetting the book? That would be… no… it had amazing knowledge. It contained information on just about every dragon and… he… didn't really need… it. Or… he… did? Fishlegs fought for control for ten whole seconds, before Artemis realized that he was struggling to keep control. "Forget me and the book," he said pushing more magic into the _Mesmer_. How come he was resisting so much? Artemis actually knew that if the person was being mesmerized into doing something they absolutely didn't want to do, then the resistance could be incredibly harmful to the subject. He just didn't expect a resistance in the first place and so never thought of the possibility.

Finally the boy seemed to get into the blank stare that showed when Artemis had complete control. As an afterthought, Artemis added: "For the next ten minutes, you are deaf." He then made his way around the boy, picking up the book and closed the door to hut again behind him.

Though the book had cost him more magic than he would have liked to give up – Artemis didn't really have much left, and seeing as there wasn't an acorn anywhere on this island he would have to make do with the remaining few drops – it would certainly be valuable to know what the Vikings actually did know about dragons. And get to know about the different species. Throwing the book onto the slanted roof of the hut was harder than expected, but at the second throw the book got stuck somewhere. Artemis then proceeded climbing up the big wooden beams the house was made of using the rough surfaces to keep him up. It was rough for Artemis who really hated ladders, but he made it up after about two minutes. This was why he had had to make sure there was no one in the house; the noise he was making as well as the amount of time it took for him to climb the house would have woken up everyone inside and they would have caught him.

Crawling up the slanted roof was easier than trying to climb the house and soon Artemis found himself on the other side of the hut. He didn't want to risk throwing the book over to the other side – if it fell then his effort for obtaining the book would have been wasted – so he decided to read it as he was sitting on top of the house. Quickly going through the pages, as there wasn't much information on them, he swallowed all of the statistics. He couldn't help but smile when he read that "the Night Fury is the unholy offspring between Lightning and Death itself." That bit of info would probably amuse Toothless. As he gained the new knowledge he refined his plan and then let the book drop to the ground. Unfortunately someone decided to walk under right as he did so. "Ow!"

Artemis immediately let himself fall back towards the slanted roof. Unless the person crawled up, he wouldn't be able to see Artemis now. But Artemis didn't hear a sound. He risked a look. The book had hit a teenager and knocked him unconscious. This teen looked brawnier than the other chubby one. He also had a face that looked like a pig and one of his teeth was knocked out. Artemis could suddenly smell him. It wasn't the good kind of smell, it was more the "not showering for a year kind of smell". The guy was lying on the ground with his tongue lolling from his mouth and he was mumbling dreamily… something about finding Astrid. _Oops,_ Artemis thought, _sorry_.

But then he focused on the task at hand; the jump. Jumping about a meter from the roof of one building to another had seemed like a sensible choice when he had been on the ground. Now it seemed as if an abyss had opened. An abyss trying to swallow him. _Focus, Fowl, It is nothing more than 1.9 meters. The world record for a standing jump is…3.71 meters. The average distance for jumping is… 2.2 meters. Even if I am a little below average – which I suspect I am – I have a margin of 0.3 meter. I've done worse things._ Trying to psyche himself up was a harder task than imagined, but eventually Artemis logic convinced him of his capability.

His jump was 2 meters exactly. Landing made him crash onto the roof of the next building, but if anyone would want to find out what had made the noise, they would have to climb onto the roof. And by that time Artemis would be at the next hut. Jumping between four more huts Artemis found himself at the top of the village. Luckily, he wasn't in any doubt that the house in front of him – on the other side of a yard, which the five houses surrounding the yard shared – was the chief's hut. Unfortunately, five people were standing outside the house.

Clambering down the side of the house was possibly even harder than climbing up, but after a close call where he almost let go, Artemis got down safely on the other side of the house. Walking around it and sneaking to the corner, he stole a glance. The five Vikings were still standing outside, facing the chief's hut. As Artemis was about to try and sneak closer, one of them spoke up: "Shouldn't we be watching the back door too?"

Another answered: "You know that because we entered the chief's hut without permission, we have to guard the front door, right?" The first one nodded. "Then, that's why we don't watch the back door. The chief didn't say so." The first one looked confused at first, but then accepted the answer.

Artemis smirked. A back door. That was valuable information. Sneaking back again and this time following the backside of the huts all around the yard, Artemis reached the back door to the chief's hut without any problems. Taking another deep breath, he congratulated himself on making it past the dangerous point. Butler would probably never believe that he had infiltrated a village without being discovered. Artemis felt a sting, when thinking about his friends, but he also felt like he still had hope. Without waiting anymore, Artemis slowly entered the hut.

He was greeted by the sound of someone sawing a beam of wood. Or perhaps it was a snore. It was hard to tell the difference. _Get it over with_. Suddenly the snore stopped.

Stoick was a light sleeper. He had to be; if a dragon raid was happening the people of his village would need him and he wasn't any good if he wasn't able to get up in three seconds. Therefore, when the door opened he woke. _Ahh, Hiccup, using the backdoor again…hmm._ Stoick stopped thinking. It wasn't Hiccup who had entered. Stoick immediately burst from his bed, jumping out and only the sheer disbelief at seeing the boy, whom he was hunting, stand in his own home, stopped him from assaulting the boy immediately.

Artemis had seconds to do something. Microseconds. He couldn't fail now. He yelled desperately: "I come in peace! Please hear me out!"

Stoick face was unreadable. Finally he said: "I'm a reasonable man. You got a minute to explain how you got out of prison. If your explanation sounds possible then I will consider your next words. However if you try to trick me I will cut out your tongue."

Artemis cursed silently. And swallowed; meeting the man and standing this close to him while hearing his threats brought back bad memories. And as for what he was asking… Artemis didn't want to lie, but telling the truth would most definitely make this endeavor a lot harder. So he said: "Your son Hiccup was standing nearby the door. I convinced him to let me out if I did something for him. What I did for him will stay secret until Hiccup himself tells you the okay. I will not betray him not even if you torture me." Was that too much?

Stoick looked closely on Artemis face. It looked honest enough to him. So he laughed. Artemis was quite shocked – he didn't expect that reaction. Stoick thought the kid had guts; to tell him seconds after he, Stoick the Vast, had made a threat, that he would not betray another's secrets. But he respected that kind of behavior so he let it slide. He would have to speak to Hiccup, though, but it would happen in good time. "Very well, what is it I should know about?"

Artemis breathed in deeply for the third time in not a long time. Now the plan was coming back on track. "Sir," he said, "I believe you have a grave misconception that has caused you much grievance and has done so for more than enough time. I believe I have a solution to your problem."

Stoick was surprised at how Artemis spoke. It wasn't the first time he had noticed this about the boy, but he had suddenly turned completely business-like, as if he was a jeweler selling a product. It made him uneasy… and he didn't like being uneasy. "What problem?" Stoick growled the words like they were sour.

Artemis continued: "You have problems with dragons."

At this Stoick visibly changed his attitude. "You have a solution to our dragon problem? Are you serious with me?" Stoick thought about it and realized… it was possible! Perhaps the boy had been travelling elsewhere than Berk before he came to this place. And perhaps he knew the way to the dragons Nest. However upon this thought, he began to wonder how the boy was still alive. He was certainly not strong enough to hold his own against a thousand dragons alone. This left only two options: Either the entire Fowl Empire was nearby and they had wiped out the dragon's Nest – which could explain why they hadn't had a raid in days – or Artemis was some sort of emissary of darkness. Some sort of cursed draugr with ungodly powers. Neither option seemed very tasteful. "Explain yourself!"

Artemis knew he had Stoick hooked: "I can convince the dragons to stop the war. I've found a way of communicating with them, and they do not want this war to continue any more than you do."

Stoick was short of breath now. Artemis was an agent of Loki; there was no doubt. Only someone with the power of words would be able to convince a bunch of brainless and evil animals to be sneaky and stealthy as they cut the throats of every last Viking without them even noticing. Well, it was not going to happen as long as he hadn't sat down at the long table at Valhalla. He was going to have to trick Artemis into showing everyone in the village his bad intentions and then Stoick would slay the boy. That would send the message. And if he was lying now then he would simply have answered his previous third question "How do you want to die?" with "I want to be eaten by a dragon and be ripped apart."

Stoick focused: "Can you show me and everyone else this? Is it true?"

Artemis visibly relieved. It was almost easier than convincing Astrid. This man clearly understood exactly how a business worked, even though he had seemed so barbaric a day before. "Of course. I would like to show you that it works even with different species of dragons, but for starters I would like to show you how to _tame_," Artemis winced at his choice of words, knowing how intelligent dragons really were, but he had to keep Stoick where he wanted and the Viking wasn't just ready to bond with a dragon, let alone even be friendly with one, "a Terrible Terror."

"Very well, we have one of those at the arena. Could you… do it now? I will have to call the village together, but in ten minutes we would all be gathered," _and watch you kill yourself,_ Stoick finished in his mind.

Artemis smiled. "Certainly."

Stoick then proceeded to the front door and opened it. He gestured for Artemis to follow him. He turned and heard Artemis follow him. He was smiling now that he knew Artemis couldn't see him – Artemis had bought it, hook, line and sinker – and now he had just found some entertainment for the village while at the same time taking care of an evil god's avatar and a spy as well. Stoick felt unstoppable. Everything was falling into place. He felt like he was being touched by Odin right now and he thanked the god for this opportunity. This day could not possibly become any better. Or maybe it could? He would leave that for the gods to decide.

And we've reached 4100 words. Awesome! Stoicks mistrust of dragons is of course a direct consequence of losing his wife the way he did. Poor guy. The next chapter is going up in two days, definitely. When writing homework I really want to stop writing and be done with it. But writing this I really want to write more, which is why I make the chapters longer and longer.


	11. Legend

This chapter almost wrote itself. I had a lot of fun writing this – possibly even more than the last chapter. To answer the third review (Hurrah! Thank you) yeah, sorry about my grammar. To make a long story short English grammar is a direct opposite to Danish grammar. At least the commas. I don't know what I can do about those. Hopefully its still readable. Anyway, random statistic of today would be a tie the 55 hits I had Tuesday the 22nd (highest amount in one day) and the 500 hits total the story has now. Thanks for reading my story!

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though.

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 11: Legend.

Stoick watched as people filled the regular spots around the arena. Most of them were a bit annoyed; it tends to happen when waking a soundly sleeping Viking. But a lot of them were also intrigued. The chief had gathered everyone around the arena and this had never happened before except on a yearly basis where the village would cheer a young Viking to killing his first dragon. But here they were – a day early – and what was going to happen now?

Something strange was happening. Everyone was present, but Stoick wasn't doing anything at all. People were bickering and chatting. But soon the chatting became more determined – a rumor was spreading.

Stoick didn't say a word. He just waited until he was sure the "rumor" had reached everyone. When everyone had understood the message he started speaking to all of them. "Vikings, today the war might end! We have amongst us a man able to _speak_ to a foul dragon and make it understand that they should stay away from us." From this an outburst of boos came.

Artemis had expected this negativity from the start. After all just because Stoick was the chief didn't mean he couldn't say something wrong sometimes. And people began doubting him when he spoke such nonsense. However Stoick turned it around: "Now, I know what you're thinking: The dragons are evil. I feel the same way. But this man, Artemis Fowl, claims he can convince the dragons and I need all of you to witness this event. If he succeeds then you all know what it means. And if he fails we won't need to feed that particular dragon." At this statement, some of the Vikings laughed grimly while Artemis grimaced.

Artemis couldn't afford to fail now. But he was confident that he wouldn't fail. A Terrible Terror was an incredibly small dragon, the smallest known anyway, and while it might take a bit of persuasion he didn't see how he could he could somehow die in this fight. It was probably just a statement from Stoick to lighten the mood. Focusing on the task at hand – _Wow, I'm really hungry, no, no… focus_ – he walked through the gate and into the arena.

Whispers and muffled shouts of horror became immediately apparent; Artemis looked like a beast from Hel who had come to haunt their souls by this point. He was starved which made his face even paler than it usually was. He was also a bit tired from the physical exercise he had just gone through by getting to Stoick. This coupled with his weird clothes didn't exactly help Artemis' case, but he figured the important thing would be to settle down the dragon. Walking into the middle of the ring he looked up at Stoick and nodded.

Stoick then signaled to a big man with a hook for a hand to open the cage. Pulling a lever made a mechanism turn which in turn made a couple of huge logs lift up. Now that the door wasn't being held by these logs the door smashed open and Artemis gasped. For a moment his mind blanked, but looking up and seeing Stoick's smile, he realized he had been played. All the surrounding Vikings were now looking forward to the battle. In front of Artemis stood now, a massive orange dragon with black stripes over its wings, black horns on top of its head, incredibly big and sharp teeth and big yellow eyes with a black slit for an iris. If Artemis had any doubt as to what species it might be only from looks – the pictures in the Dragon Manual were hand drawn and sometimes a bit hard to decode – when the dragon lit itself on fire, Artemis knew. He was facing one of the most dangerous dragons, a Monstrous Nightmare.

The rumor that had gone around had been telling everyone of Artemis' true reason for being here. The Vikings were thrilled. It might not be that entertaining to see a dragon kill a fellow Viking, but to make the dragon kill one of their enemies was very entertaining. And as the burning dragon slowly approached the frozen figure of Artemis, the Vikings quieted down. They waited.

Artemis finally managed to connect the dots. He reasoned that if he could show the Vikings that a Monstrous Nightmare could be friendly then the situation could still be salvaged. He lifted his hands slowly in a defensive position, as to show the dragon he did not have any weapons on him. However this particular action startled the dragon, who suddenly very quickly lashed out with a claw. Artemis fell backwards avoiding the lethal blow, but the dragon closed the distance quickly and held him down. Just as Artemis thought he was done for, the dragon growled: "May you rest in peace."

Artemis stammered: "N-no… wait. Please don't kill me!" The dragon stopped confused and looked at the human under its claws. The village of Vikings standing around the arena was also confused; why didn't the dragon kill its prey? "Was that you speaking, human?"

Artemis proceeded with a: "Yes! Please, hear me out before you kill me. After you've heard what I have to say then you can decide what to do with me."

This time there was no doubt. Everyone had heard it. Artemis had spoken in weird growls and the dragon was responding. Stoick was immediately on his way to the entrance to the arena. The Vikings around the arena were elated. The chief would deal with this dark entity himself. Meanwhile, Artemis only focus lay in surviving and he had no idea that Stoick was on his way. The dragon was relaxing a bit. It decided to amuse Artemis. "Then go ahead. Speak your case."

Artemis nervously said: "If you don't kill me, then everyone," Artemis made a small gesture to the rest of the village – it was hard to gesture when you were under a dragon's claw, but Artemis somehow managed to do it, "everyone will believe me when I say that you dragons don't want this war any more than they do. I came here to convince you to stand down and if you do then the Vikings will stand down as well. You can make peace!"

The dragon considered this. The boy didn't look like any other Viking it had ever seen and certainly didn't look dangerous – except for the fact that he spoke the language of dragons. And he seemed sincere. _When is the last time I've trusted someone,_ the dragon thought. Making up its mind, the dragon said: "Very well, I shall release you. But now that I'm trusting you, you must trust me when I say, I don't think your other human friends will be so easily convinced." The dragon stepped backwards and everyone in the village gasped. Artemis was oblivious to the sound though, trying to get up as he was.

"And what makes you say that?" Artemis had now stood up.

"Because of the angry one who is coming behind you!" With the last word the dragon quickly shoved Artemis aside, which meant he didn't get cleaved in half by the massive axe that was brought down by Stoick. Artemis was in shock. Why was Stoick attacking him when he had just showed everything he had been claiming was true? And again, being gifted with a super-genius brain the answer came to him. Stoick had never wanted to believe in him. He remembered Hiccup saying: "My father thinks you're an apprentice to a god." In Norse Mythology, there was only one god who could possibly be bad enough to warrant such a deeply rooted suspicion. Artemis quickly surmised that the combination of the "evil" dragons and his ability to speak to them had convinced Stoick that he was the apprentice of Loki, the trickster god. And he had just shown this to the entire village.

The dragon was quickly on to Stoick, but he just slapped it away, as you would a fly. The dragon flew backwards, dazed and Stoick followed up with a combination that would make any boxer proud. Finally bringing the axe around to deal the finishing blow Artemis yelled: "NO! DON'T!" Stoick hesitated and then put his hands around the dragon's mouth instead and forced it to move back into its cage again. He then closed the gate and the logs were set in place again. Stoick turned around and approached the downed Fowl. "You are right – that kill belongs to Hiccup. And as for you – do you have any last words?"

Artemis didn't hesitate. "I have a question. I assume you can answer it seeing as you'll kill me anyway, right? Then my question is this: why don't you believe me?"

Stoick snorted: "Seriously, are those your last words?" Artemis replied: "Depending on your answer, my last words will change. And they will come after your answer."

"Very well then. I don't trust you because any person with half a mind and your powers would use them to establish a massive raid on our village. If you could convince us the dragons weren't hostile then you would be able to kill all of us easily when we let our guard down, thereby expanding your own empire. And the fact that you even have the powers of Loki gives us every reason to slay you right now. Say your last words."

Artemis was on the verge of tears, but he didn't cry. A Fowl didn't cry. A Fowl saw possibilities in impossible situations. And he did see a possibility. It was a small one, but it could be significant if he was reading the situation correctly. After all, he wasn't just trying to convince Stoick, he was trying to convince an entire village. And the one thing they all had in common was that they had the same religion. Artemis gathered himself. To drive home his next argument he would have to be composed and above all fearsome. So he just got up. He hid his nervousness and then he casually walked towards the middle of the ring. If Stoick decided to deal the death blow now, then it would be over. But he figured the man had an honor code and he might let him speak his last words.

Luckily Artemis was right. Stoick was surprised at the amount of guts the weak-looking kid had. He had asked him to say his last words and yet Artemis was still silent. But he let him walk. The kid had nowhere to run. No one spoke; everyone wanted to hear Artemis last words. Artemis stopped and then he spoke.

"My name is Artemis Fowl the Second. I come from a distant future." Stoick had lifted the axe about to strike, but now he let it fall again with sheer disbelief. Had Artemis been broken under the stress? And Artemis continued: "I am not an emissary of Loki. I am the chosen one of Odin himself and I am partially all-knowing. Know that I speak the truth when you see this." He turned to Stoick who was trying to grasp what Artemis was doing. Artemis then stuck his finger in his eye and yanked out the colored contact that had made it look like he had two blue eyes. Now everyone saw he had one blue and one hazel eye. Everyone on one side of the arena at least.

"This eye," Artemis continued, "is connected to Odin. I know a lot of things and I plan on sharing this information with all of you. When my story is done I expect you to make the correct judgement." He looked at Stoick who was paling.

"Now to begin with I should explain how the future looks. Very simply, in about a thousand years – a millennia from now – the dragons are extinct. Mankind has forgotten all about war and everyone lives in peace. But we all know that it will not last. Do you know why, Stoick?"

Stoick thought about it for a moment. "Because of Ragnarok?"

Artemis smirked and continued: "Exactly! We all knew we were going to die. But did we accept that? No! We decided to do what no one had done before, what no man has even dreamed of doing. We decided to build a ship that would sail to Valhalla and we would speak with the gods if they could spare us. For another two thousand years, we tried and tried again. Each new ship we built would fail but slowly and surely we got closer. And then suddenly we succeeded. At this point our technology and weaponry was far advanced and it was enough to get us through the Valkyries all the way to the gates of Valhalla." Artemis paused for a dramatic effect; everyone was wide-eyed in wonder and fear.

"I was on that ship. I was the navigator, the person finding the way to Valhalla…" Stoick interrupted. "You can't sail to Valhalla! You lie!"

Artemis quickly doused the suspicion: "No, I don't lie. I am telling the absolute truth right now, when I say… you are right. We discovered over the years that there was no end of the world and no way of finding Valhalla like that. So instead we built flying ships." Everyone gasped. Flying ships? Stoick shook his head and said: "That's not possible."

"It is. I can show you that you already know how to build them by asking a question. Why do dragons fly?"

"Because it makes them harder to hit and it is a good way to…"

"No, you misunderstood. What part of a dragon makes a dragon able to fly?"

Stoick wasn't long to answer. "The wings and the tail."

Artemis smiled. "See, you already know how to make a ship fly. You just have to put wings on the side, a tail on the backend and – if you don't want to freeze to death – you have to build a roof to the ship as well. Anyway, that was a sidetrack and…" Stoick interrupted. "It is still impossible. No ship is as fast as a dragon and only with speed can flight actually happen."

"You are of course right. But three thousand years from now on there are ships that can move that fast. If you don't believe me then I can describe the process of making something that can make you go fast. If you would like to hear, that is."

Stoick didn't like the smug tone of Artemis and replied "Then tell us," confident that Artemis was still lying.

"Very well, first you need to have two barrels. You fill the first barrel with water and the second you place upside down so the mouth of the barrel is directly above the barrel filled with water. Then you take a long iron pole and you stick it into the barrel filled with water, so that it is slanting out, but the iron pole must reach higher than the other barrel. Now you place the contraption on a high place and you wait until it becomes a thunderstorm. If a lightning bolt then hits the iron pole, then all of the water in the barrel should vanish. But more importantly, if you light a torch and you put it up into the inverted barrel, it will explode upwards and will fly approximately 300 meters into the air. Now you just need a lot of these barrels if you want to make a ship fly the same way."

Total silence fell over the arena. Artemis had only explained the principles of electrolysis of water to create hydrogen – which did explode – but a hydrogen fueled explosion would most likely only yield a maximum of half a meters distance. Luckily no one had really understood the explanation, but the way Artemis said it was as if he had just explained the proper way to hold an axe; everyone knew how to show it and it was easy to explain. Stoick agreed that it sounded interesting. "We accept your explanation. Continue with your story."

"Yes… I was the navigator, the person who guides the ship to Valhalla. The rest of our crew were big strong men – they had to be to protect us from the Valkyries who assaulted our ship trying to keep us away from Asgard – and when we arrived at the plains of Vigrid or Oskopnir we were attacked by millions of einherjar. Of course we had the weaponry to keep them at bay, but we lost fifty men and only ten of us made it to the halls of Valhalla. One of those ten was me. I'll tell you now the hall was huge. Nearly endless and incredibly impressive. Weapons of all sizes and all times – there were some weapons even more advanced than ours – were hung on the walls and we all sort of gaped at the wonders we were seeing." Artemis smiled and then his face got serious again.

"However, the gods weren't pleased that we had come. One by one we went to speak with Odin and one by one we failed to convince him of the mankind's greatest success. The first spoke of peace as the reason for our sparing. But Odin said peace was fragile and especially among us. And the first died. The second spoke of freedom as the reason. But Odin said that freedom was an illusion, that anyone could take away that same freedom if he so desired. The second died. The third spoke of knowledge as the reason. But Odin said that only he was all-knowing – and he knew that no one else would ever obtain that same knowledge. The third died. The fourth then spoke of desire as the reason. But Odin said that all humans desired as a race was to avoid death and that death _would_ come to all. And he let death come to the fourth."

Artemis sank. The Vikings were complete enthralled.

"The fifth approached Odin. He spoke of reason – that man could reason – as the reason. But Odin said that Loki would never see reason and a single example of reason failing would mean the rest could also fail. The fifth died. The sixth then approached stepping over the steaming piles of ashes where Thor had been commanded to strike by his father, Odin. The sixth spoke of love as the reason. But Odin says that even the strongest love withers over time and that death cuts off every love. And then the sixth died. The seventh approached. He spoke of power as the reason. And Odin stood up and impaled the man on his pole." Everyone present gasped at this.

"He then said that power is relative to another power and that no power would ever be greater than the gods. The seventh died on his pole. The eighth approached. He was scared and he spoke of survival as the reason. And Odin looked at him and said that no man could hide from death making survival pointless. The eighth died. The ninth approached. He spoke of truth as the reason. But Odin said that the truth was only as true as it was in the moment it was accepted as the truth. The ninth died. I was the tenth and last survivor of my crew. I approached Odin. Stepping over the bodies of my friends was the hardest thing I'd ever done. Looking into his eye was the scariest thing you could possibly imagine. To describe it I would have to compare it to knowing you are going to fail. He watched me and I knew – I saw in his eye – I was doomed before I even spoke." Artemis licked his lips and continued.

"But I still knew I had to try. I spoke of progress as the reason. And as I spoke I realized I was speaking the truth. I was convincing the gods themselves. But seeing the face of Odin I realized I had been tricked; Odin had put those words in my mouth to get rid of me. I could see in his eyes another future, where I had spoken of compassion as the reason. And I saw another future where I had spoken of imagination as the reason. And all of these futures in his eyes led to the final destruction of me. For a short second I was overwhelmed, but then I threw myself to the ground. I pleaded for him to have mercy. Then Odin asked 'Mercy?'" Artemis stopped for a short while, but before he could continue he heard someone yell: "Continue, for the sake of the gods, man!"

"I will," Artemis replied. "I looked up at Odin. I didn't understand what I had done, but his eye seemed closer now more intrigued. I could no longer see my own destruction. And I realized what mankind had that no other species had. We had humility. None of the other races – the other animals, and such – pray to the gods. But we do. And I had just thrown myself at the mercy of Odin. And this was the true trait of man. Odin lifted me up and said: "With my blessing, go and change the destiny of mankind. You must change the future and to do so change the past. You must go to the beginning of time and make sure the prophecy is never spoken, and you must guide time to its correct destination. You are my chosen one, Artemis Fowl and you shall go from here with powers that mark you as a chosen one. You will receive the gift of knowledge from me, the gift of strategy from my son Thor and the gift of eternal life from Idunn. You must know this though, death comes to all and though you will live forever you are still vulnerable to the weapons of mortal men. Go forth and change everything." I then stumbled backwards as if hit by lightning and suddenly I found myself at the beginning of time."

The only sound was the sound of the wind blowing. A hundred and fifty Vikings were completely awed at Artemis as he finished his story: "I then proceeded to use my new gifts to convince the old Odin not to resurrect the völva, and as he never heard the prophecy I thought I had done it. I had prevented Ragnarok. Unfortunately, as you all know, Odin is all-knowing and he knew the prophecy without hearing it. However, there were now two possible futures. One with Ragnarok to end it all and one with eternal peace, where the gods make amends to each other and humanity prospers. And I knew that to achieve the second one I would have to live for such a long time and I would have to guide the future, as the future Odin had said. Now I knew what he meant. For long periods of time, however, I slept as I had nothing to do. Living forever is really, _really_ dull sometimes and I would have to wait for the next war to have something to do. And now I've come to end the war that you are having. That is the end of my story."

Stoick had no idea. He had very nearly killed a chosen one of the gods, one who was destined to do great things, and he had never known. "Why didn't you say so?"

"Because for one my story is quite long. And secondly it is also not very healthy for you all to know the future. I will ask all of you that you do not reveal my secret to anyone, not even your heirs or anything. I need to be forgotten, because I work from behind-the-scenes. I'm a guide, not a prophet. I am not preaching to anyone, I only watch history unfold and I make it go in the right direction. I'm the navigator of history. Therefore I only reveal myself in the utmost emergencies. This is the third time such an emergency has happened, but I've become better at keeping myself secret."

Artemis smiled at Stoick. He had just fired the worst kind of bullshit at all of these men and now they thought of him as a chosen one. The first step of plan could have turned out worse, he supposed.

Stoick mumbled a nearly soundless "I'm sorry." Artemis shook his head and said: "You do not need to apologize, my friend. People naturally make mistakes. I'm just sorry I didn't realize you were all so strong willed that you needed to hear my story to be convinced." Stoick accepted the forgiveness and the compliment. He then cheered up: "But you're going to end our war! Those dragons won't know what hit 'em."

Artemis gaped. _What have I done?_ Why did he have to say that the dragons were extinct? Now they still believed the dragons were supposed to die. And he would not be able to change his story now. That would expose him. Artemis hoped Hiccup could come up with a plan now. And execute it unlike he had done.

I don't know if anyone noticed I described Artemis eyes as blue earlier. He was wearing color contacts (I guess he would usually wear these since otherwise his parents could have a relapse from his Mesmer of them). Hope that clarifies things. Two more days = new chapter. We're approaching the end of part 1 and from there, we'll see where it goes.


	12. Return

My brain has officially melted. I could not remember how the movie went as precisely as I wanted to. Luckily my local supermarket helped (randomly). I just happened to see they sold new televisions and to showcase it they were showing HTTYD. So I just stood and saw the entire second half of the movie! This helped tremendously in remembering exactly how the following scene actually happened although the dialogue might be a little off. Fourth review (from same person as number three!): I think my new expression is going to be "holy bullshit" that one cracked me up. Thanks! And finally random statistic for the day: 600 hits! In just two days 100 hits! I'm amazed and grateful :-).

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though.

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 12: Return.

The miracle had happened. No 1 had had almost nothing to work with – he'd had maybe two threads left before all traces of the time travel would have vanished – and yet he had finally tracked down Artemis. It had been a huge gamble. Working with time magic you need to know your boundaries and the being that had pulled Artemis out of his own time seemed boundless. It was beyond anything he had ever worked with. Qwan might have given him a challenge now and then, even the occasional shock test, but this… this was in a completely different dimension of difficulty. Artemis hadn't just been pulled out of his own time. He had been pulled out of his own lifespan as well.

Normally this was considered impossible. Usually the guiding factor was the person who was actually travelling who would then remember a "when and where" and they would be deposited there. In rare cases the caster of the magic could guide the person within the spheres of his/her own lifespan, which also meant it was possible for objects to pass through the time stream. However again this depended upon the fact that it was within a reasonable amount of years. It had to be within the casters lifespan. Now No 1 had had an incredibly… interesting lifespan – he'd been pulled out of time itself and yet he hadn't as time had still passed. It was there but it wasn't anyway. However this meant he had access to an immense amount of time. And yet everywhere No 1 had searched, every thread he had picked up and used to search within a timespan, had failed.

The penultimate thread had been a gamble. No 1 had searched through the alternate universes in hopes of finding something that even remotely resembled Artemis signature. This was already in violation of the unwritten rules of reality; there could not exist two universes at the same time. Time was adaptable, yes, but not so much. When Artemis had saved Holly from being killed by Leon Abbott, time had adapted. One very much real universe, in which Holly Short, he and Qwan were all dead, had been thrown out in favor of the other that didn't actually happen the first time around. But that other had become real. And the first had vanished as an alternate universe should. However, when No 1 had picked up this next-to-last thread, he had been at his wits end. And in desperation he had searched for an alternate universe. And he had at last found Artemis.

Seeing the runes dim down on No 1's body, Holly immediately knocked the code on the door. Butler would want to be here when No 1 spoke. Whether they were good – _who am I kidding, he's gone…_ – or bad news.

Butler almost broke the hinges on the door when crashing through, but upon closing the door apologetically, he had found his professionalism again. He would have to wait with the outburst until after the judgement had been passed. He then thought he saw Artemis running through the room, from left to right before vanishing again. But it was just a vision. Butler had seen many of these visions when standing guard. It had now been 21 hours since the demon warlock had started. And now the conclusion was coming and Butler didn't know if he was strong enough to hear if it had failed.

No 1 could not bear to see his friends in such a state. Both looked absolutely miserable. Butler was the worst, he looked like he was seeing ghosts, his memories haunting him and yet he tried to keep himself composed. Holly had already given up on Artemis – you could see it behind her eyes – but her heart wouldn't let her do this particular course of action and so her face looked torn apart. So prolonging it no longer – perhaps Foaly would have been able to keep a joke going and he probably would have too under lighter circumstances – he said: "I found him."

The reaction was immediate. It was like finding out your legs worked after having never been able to walk for ten years… and then being scared to death finding it was all a dream. Neither Butler nor Holly seemed to ease up, but both came closer to the warlock. No 1 said it again: "I found him."

Butler could not stay standing. He fell to his knees, a few droplets reaching his eyes. He immediately wiped them. Now they would need seriousness and they would need to bring Artemis back. Safely. Holly thought along the same lines, though she could not hold back the tears in her eyes. She asked: "Is he… okay?"

"I think so. His signature is still alive." That was the good news. No 1 took a deep breath. Breaking the bad news wasn't going to be any easier if he waited. And yet he found he almost couldn't say the words when he said: "But I don't know if I can bring him back. Let me explain," he quickly said when he saw the twinge of incredible pain upon both of the faces of his friends – Butler's more subdued as in being shellshocked and not knowing where you are or even who you are, and Holly's more explicit pain as in saying goodbye to a friend silently.

No 1 continued quickly as to give hope to his friends: "Artemis is in an alternate universe. Compared to this universe he is currently 900 years in the past. I… don't have any more magic left right now to reach him. However Qwan could recharge my magic and then I'd… try to break through. It's… it's the best I can do right now." No 1 couldn't keep a tear out of his eye either. Trying to break into an alternate universe that shouldn't exist anymore coupled with sending something almost 1000 years into the past… it was an impossible task. Nobody would have that much magic. But he would still try.

However the room sobered up upon hearing that there was still something they could do. Just having something to do would be enough.

(In an alternate universe)

Artemis woke up with a groan. He was no longer tired, he was no longer hungry, but still he would have preferred those inconveniences if his plan had worked. The Vikings had held an enormous party in his honor but he would have preferred that it was to symbolize the end of a war. Today was the day Hiccup was going to kill his first dragon and he would have preferred to make Hiccup avoid facing such a test. Hiccup had not come home yesterday, so Artemis had slept in the chief's house in Hiccup's bed. He had hoped Hiccup would come home and find Artemis and then waking him up, so Artemis could discuss the happenings with him. But he had no such luck.

Artemis had even tried to introduce the concept of friendly dragons – he had spoken to it and it hadn't hurt him – but everyone he had talked to had believed it was because of his supposed gift of knowledge that he could speak with the dragons as well as him being blessed by Odin; apparently even dragons knew not to mess with such a force. Artemis had tried to counter with the general belief that dragons were intensely stupid so how could they just 'know' this fact, but upon seeing the suspicious lines of faces he had just waved it off as a joke, and silently cursed for bringing himself into such a complicated mess. How could it have gone so wrong from so little?

Deep down, Artemis knew he had written off the dragons so that he could survive. His fourth statement had included the extinct dragons and he had (however unwillingly) purposefully included this statement to build trust in himself. And yet now he had betrayed that very trust from the dragon that had saved his life. The dragon that was going to get killed today. Things were not going well. As he was unable to locate Hiccup he had instead pondered over how to restore his broken plan, but until now he was unable to come up with anything better than waiting for Hiccup and hope he knew what he was doing. And now he was unable to be clued in as to what he would be doing. He would be unable to help Hiccup in dealing with his problems and he was going to participate in a war that came from a stupid misunderstanding. No, things were not going well.

Getting up from the bed Artemis groaned again. This time it wasn't from the facts coming back to him. It was the smell. His suit was completely beyond salvation. He had blamed it upon his dwelling in the caves – he had explained he could survive without food, but that he still liked eating because it tasted good and this had given him the chance to quell his hunger. Of course his explanation had been accepted. Truthfully his suit would smell equally bad had his story actually been true, but Artemis wasn't used to poor conditions. He was used to impossible, life-threatening situations, but when it came to actually "get his hands dirty", he had always been reluctant. Such as the time he'd had to crawl up a pillar filled with...unmentionables. It had been reluctant, even though he'd heard his friend was in pain at the other end of the pillar.

Now he smelled like his own personal sewer. A bit like Mulch really, though Mulch would still take the prize. Although Artemis would probably surpass him soon. If he did not find a way home. Which he would. Hopefully.

Stoick had noted the smell as well, but it wasn't really anything new. Many Vikings did not believe in baths though Stoick did bathe occasionally – it was one of the things he still had from his wife. So when he knocked on the door and entered his house finding Artemis awake and stinking all he commented was: "Today is the big day. After Hiccup has slain the beast we will be ready for the last battle. Everyone has already agreed, we're going to the Nest. Will you follow us, Chos… eh, Artemis?"

Artemis had asked not to be called the chosen one – supposedly to avoid making his story spread, but it was just to not constantly have to deal with his own lie. Artemis now knew he was in trouble. He had said he knew the way to the Nest, but he actually had no clue as to how to get to it if he wanted to. But keeping up the act he nodded. He then asked: "When is Hiccup's test?"

"Well, not long from now. When the sun reaches the end of the horizon, we will be ready. When Hiccup shows up, we will begin his test."

Artemis groaned for the third time. He would not have a chance to speak with Hiccup before his test. This would complicate things even further. Hiccup would really be alone in dealing with the dragon. But upon thinking this Artemis realized he should have more faith in the boy who for the first time brought Viking and dragon together. That couldn't have been easy. Maybe if Hiccup could show the friendly dragon everything would click into place. But that was hopeful thinking. Even if Hiccup did this, it would not be a guarantee. But it was a hope.

Stoick chuckled. Artemis groan probably came from drinking too much mead. _Even a blessed person gets hammered._ Stoick was somewhere between reality and fantasy these days. Everything had gone so quickly. Hiccup becoming powerful and placing number one. Artemis turning out to be sent from Odin to end the menace of the dragons. The entire village having a massive morale boost because of both. The weather was even a bit better today. The sun was palely shining through the mists of the clouds. Everything just went right. Even when it had went wrong before today. Stoick motioned for Artemis to follow him to the arena. After all, now they just needed to wait for Hiccup and he would most likely show up at the arena.

Artemis sighed. He could not think on this anymore. What happened from now on, would happen no matter what. He followed Stoick towards the arena.

Hiccup had been sleeping in the clearing that night. He'd had way too many things on his mind to even try to walk home. He would have most likely walked into every tree in the forest on his way home. First and foremost he was confused as his feelings towards Astrid were suddenly returned to him. He had definitely been walking in the sky as she kissed him and he had been unable to focus on anything until five minutes later where Toothless nudged him. Then he had noticed Artemis was gone. At first he thought Artemis might have seen them together and given them space. But when Artemis didn't return and he couldn't find him he put the pieces together; Artemis had left. Whether he had returned to the village or otherwise escaped somewhere, Artemis was no longer reachable. Hiccup felt a bit angry at this.

He had been left – alone, except for Toothless – to ponder what to do now. He could leave. The option had seemed so tempting just a few hours ago, but now… with Astrid and everything he felt he had to try and convince his father and the rest that the dragons were just misunderstood. It was still tempting to leave, especially after Artemis sudden disappearance. He hadn't even left a message or anything. But Hiccup wasn't vengeful. He just hoped Artemis hadn't brought himself in even more trouble. Like that was possible. But then he remembered his own troubles and supposed if he could bring himself in such a deep mess then Artemis could probably do the same.

Getting back to problem though, Hiccup had been conflicted. On one side he knew that if he walked into that arena chances were he wasn't going to leave it alive. On the other hand leaving everything and everyone he knew behind seemed cold and desperate. And he didn't want to leave Astrid behind either. And he felt he owed it to Toothless to at least try to convince his father. Trying to calm himself he reasoned that his father wouldn't kill him if he failed. Most likely he would _just_ be banished. And hunted down. Which sounded like a lot of fun. He had snorted and fallen asleep.

Astrid had been discussing a lot of things with Hiccup when they had had their _amazing_ flight. She was still trying to realize that dragons – beasts no longer – weren't what they seemed. Though she had been pouting at Hiccup's unwillingness to give away information about the weird person in the clearing, she didn't mind. She trusted Hiccup when he said: "Trust me when I say it is better if you don't know anything about him. He's trustworthy but what he knows is troubling. I'll tell you about it if… I can show this," he had gestured around him and to Toothless, "to everyone."

Returning to the village and finding everyone in ecstasy over the stranger she had met was disconcerting, but she trusted Hiccup to sort out everything and went with the story the stranger had come up with. It was quite convincing, but Astrid had always been good at seeing through lies and this story was definitely a lie. Although she was now quite curious to know about Artemis, as he called himself, she knew that Hiccup would need her unwavering support if he was to come through the next day alive and she knew that distracting him with her curiosity would be unfair to Hiccup.

And so Hiccup stood in front of the arena, wondering if he had made the correct choice. The cheering village was standing all around, his father standing on a podium with a throne so he could see his son's fight from the best angle. Astrid was with him standing at the entrance of the arena. Though the cheering was quite loud, even more so when Stoick began speaking, the silence between Hiccup and Astrid was piercing. It became more so when Stoick began a joke about Hiccups superiority.

"If someone had told me that Hiccup in a few short weeks would go from… well being… erh, Hiccup to placing first in Dragon Training why, I would have tied him to a mast and shipped him off for going mad."

The Vikings cheered and then quieted down. "But here we are. And no one is more surprised… or more proud than I am. Today, my son becomes a Viking… today, he becomes one of us!"

Astrid felt compelled to say something, anything, and it ended on what you usually say to the person who was standing in Hiccup's place: "Be careful of the dragon."

Hiccup untraditionally answered: "It's not the dragon I'm worried about," and watched his father take his place on the throne. Beside the throne stood… Artemis! The pale boy in black, ripped clothes was unmistakable. Apparently, Artemis had been trying to make eye contact with Hiccup and had only now succeeded. He pointed his finger towards Hiccup and then Stoick as to say "It's up to you now." Hiccup was relieved Artemis had made up with his father. Now he wouldn't have to worry about that.

But now he felt the pressure of the crowd and he turned to Astrid. "It's time to put an end to this. Astrid, if something goes wrong… make sure they don't find Toothless."

"I will," Astrid said and added, "just promise me it won't go wrong."

Hiccup was about to say he couldn't promise when Gobber interrupted them: "It's time, Hiccup. Knock 'em dead."

Hiccup turned with a heavy heart, with his mother's breastplate in his hands – a gift from his father to show how proud he was of him joining the Viking ranks – and he knew he would have to refuse his father's gift in his face. He could not wear something as threatening as a hat with horns nor would he have any weapons in his hands. But for appearances sake he put the helmet on and he went to the middle of the ring to pick up his weapons from the weapons rack. The metal gate lowered behind him, trapping him within the arena. He picked up a shield and a dagger. He looked up one last time at his father, seeing him whispering something to Artemis and Gobber who had joined them, and then said: "I'm ready."

The Vikings calmed down and the log-mechanism released the door. The Monstrous Nightmare inside burst out the door already on fire and jumped and thrashed around the arena, spewing fire in random directions and showing its anger upon being imprisoned, before finally dropping down in front of Hiccup and staring at the small Viking with angry and vengeful eyes. The dragon had been mistreated when it had been imprisoned again after its supposed 'loss' against Artemis. Artemis betrayed the dragon; it had heard him through the door and it was not willing to go to the same tricks again.

Artemis winced. He had understood every single growl the dragon shouted to everyone: "Betrayer. Liar. Eggcrusher (this one was a particularly bad thing to call someone; it was the ultimate form of carelessness, carelessness of the world and of life). You will burn for lying to me," and other likewise sentences. But he had to place his in hope in Hiccup's capabilities.

And then Hiccup did something strange. He dropped dagger and shield and walked backwards with his hands raised as to calm the dragon. Slowly and deliberately finding a good footing, he soothed the dragon's anger by continually saying: "It's okay. It's okay." Stoick was alert. Something was very much off. "What is he doing?" he said to no one in particular.

Hiccup then took off his helmet before deliberately saying, as if to convince himself: "I'm not one of them." He then proceeded to throw the helmet aside. The dragon's eye slits became more rounded, more friendly. Could this be an apology from a friend of the dragonspeaker? Everyone gasped. Stoick stood up and said: "Stop the fight."

"No, I need you all to see this," Hiccup said. "They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them."

Stoick did not like this at all. Hiccup had lost it. He got up and yelled: "I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!"

Artemis saw Stoick take out his hammer and he tried to stop Stoick from finishing his action, but he couldn't stop Stoick. The hammer smashed into the spherical metal roof of the arena which created a booming metallic sound that disrupted any friendship the dragon may or may not have had towards humans in that particular moment. It immediately reacted by trying to swallow Hiccup's arm, but Hiccup threw himself backwards and ran sideways avoiding the follow-up fire that the dragon discharged. "NOOOO!" he shouted.

It had been centimeters. He had almost been able to touch the dragon, to calm it down but now it followed him around the arena. He heard Astrid shouts above the crowd's murmurs: "Hiccup!"

He tried to run faster, but though he was light and small and could run fast, the dragon was angered beyond anything he had ever faced and he did not have any of the grass that calmed down dragons. The dragon slowly but surely began catching up with him, but in the last possible moment a wooden hammer came flying from the side and he saw Astrid was in the ring with him. It had been a spur-of-the-moment thing apparently because now the dragon followed both of them.

Stoick lifted the metal gate with a loud bang and yelled: "This way!" Astrid quickly reacted, but Hiccup was stumbling a bit and when the dragon fired another fireball he had to change his course with a yelp. This turned out to be a bad idea, as the dragon forced him down under a claw charging up a final fireball to finish Hiccup off. The dragon was beyond any reason and Hiccup knew it was over.

But it wasn't. A whining noise came from apparently nowhere and suddenly there was smoke all around the arena. A lot of thrashing noises came from the cage, but none of the Vikings could see anything until the smoke cleared. It was a Night Fury battling the Nightmare.

Toothless had been relaxing in the clearing when he had felt Hiccups fear. It was quite inexplicable the bond he had developed with Hiccup, but in that one moment he knew that if he did not do something right now then Hiccup would die. And now that he had a reason to find his way out of clearing, as well as being more confident than he had been when he had just been shot down, he had climbed out of the clearing using his claws to dig into the cliff. Half running and half flying through the forest, Toothless sprinted to Hiccup's rescue. And now he was standing in a protective stance trying to keep the other dragon away, who still blamed the noise the arena's roof had said on Hiccup. It had been a short fight before he could get the dragon to listen to his request, but now he explained in clear simple tones "Get lost or face the consequences."

The other dragon was not stupid and fighting over prey with another dragon was stupid so it quietly returned to its cell willingly, to the gaping surprise of everyone around the arena. But as the spell cleared everyone realized what Gobber said out loud: "Night Fury!"

And now the Vikings began pouring down the sides of the arena as Hiccup tried to push Toothless to leave the arena. But he did not want to leave. Hiccup still needed protection. And Toothless provided it. He saw a big man with a red beard come running towards him with a huge axe and two more Vikings were closer on either side of Hiccup. In one fluid swift motion Toothless had sent the two Vikings into the others which promptly sent a lot of them flying, while he threw himself onto the man with the red beard. He was about to flame the beard off – it made the man look quite ridiculous – when he heard Hiccup's screams. He was pleading Toothless not to do it. Toothless was confused. _Did Hiccup not want protection?_ But he did as he was told to – the situation was too serious to grumble about orders and who gives them.

A huge mass comprised of a Viking crowd threw themselves over Toothless and held him down. Toothless did not like where this was going. Hiccup was trying to keep himself from crying "No, no please just don't hurt him."

Artemis was watching the madness unfold from his place beside the throne. He did not want to believe the information his eyes was sending his brain was true. And it was all his fault. Artemis felt incredibly guilty. Could he not do a single thing right anywhere? He had been frozen to the spot while Stoick had reacted. Only now, when the chaos died down could he process what had just happened. He had basically doomed his only human friend to having secrets and Hiccup had also said something as incriminating as "I'm not one of them" which at best would banish him from the village. He had basically doomed his only dragon friend to a life in prison at best and to be a trophy at worst. He had essentially ruined everything. He was supposed to know the way to the dragon Nest and when Stoick found he didn't know everything would be over. Artemis was not crying – he had too much control over his emotions – but he did feel broken in that moment. All the possibilities that had seemed before had vanished into thin air.

Stoick got up from his throw down with the dragon. He was disgusted with Hiccup. Everything that had gone right had now suddenly gone wrong. He stared coldly at the dragon that had just tried to take his life and said: "Put it with the others." And with those words he dragged Hiccup with him. They would need to talk.

Hope you enjoyed. In case anyone's interested I write the story by writing five lines of what I want to happen during the chapter. Then I write the chapter. I haven't really thought about how to end part 1, but it'll probably be soon. After all, at this point we've reached 4700 words for one chapter! And two more days pass…


	13. Disowned

Phew. Homework has been really pressing during the weekend and I almost didn't get enough time to write this chapter. Did you know that if I time myself I can write 5000 words in just under five hours? O_O! I think I have an idea as to where I might go with the story for part 2 and 3! Still just in my head though. And just because something sounds awesome in the mind doesn't mean it makes for a good story (I was watching Masterpiece Fanfic Theatre on and saw My Immortal. Good God! Or should I say "Oh my Satan"! That was a prime example of what I just described :-)). As the random statistic for today I think it goes to Saturday the 26th for having the most hits in one day; an astounding 70 hits. Wow! Oh and I've learnt a new smiley O_O! Heh. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . Did anyone notice I forgot this to add this to my last chapter? Oops, bummer. I was tired and didn't really think about it until the next morning.

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 13: Disowned.

The Mead Hall was dark. The only light was the open door and even that light was shadowed by a huge figure standing in the doorway. Hiccup had not been able to find a single word to say – his father had violently dragged him to the empty hall. It still didn't feel any easier to start a conversation that would have a reasonable end. His father was shattered inside, he could feel that. Perhaps it would have been easier if… perhaps he should never have been. Everything would have been so much easier.

Something tugged at him though bringing him out of the darkness of self-pity. He thought of Toothless and all the things they'd done together. He felt like he was wanted by someone when he was with Toothless. Not as a means to an end – it would be easy for Toothless to use him as a means for flying – but because they were friends. He definitely considered Toothless his friend more than some of his supposed friends in the village. It wasn't that he hated the others from training, but he had had some rough years. And the only reason this had changed was because he had befriended Toothless. He had been respected until now and people had actually given a damn about him. It wasn't friendship, but it had worked to make Hiccup happier.

However now it seemed as though it had backfired. The drop from "Ultimate Dragon Slayer" to "Backstabbing Trickster" was much harsher than the drop from "Worst Viking Ever" to the same. There were so many things he could have done differently and all of them seemed so inviting compared to the situation he was in right now. He was utterly baffled at the incredibly ominous mood that had suddenly fallen over the Mead Hall as his father stepped into the darkness and closed the door behind him. His face could now be seen, his expression. It wasn't disappointment – that would have been usual business. It wasn't anger either – that would have meant that Hiccup had done something so wrong his father had been scared for his wellbeing and that he was to never do it again. And for Stoick to care about his wellbeing would mean he actually needed to be cared for. That didn't seem like the case now. Stoick's expression was a mixture of someone being betrayed and extreme anger. But without the actual caring part. This look completely shattered every thought Hiccup might have been thinking in that moment.

His father was whispering: "I should have known… I should have known… I should have seen the signs."

Finally Hiccup tried to speak, but just a single word left him before Stoick cut him off again: "Dad…"

"We had a deal!"

Hiccup stammered as his father passed him without sparing him another glance. The door opened up again from bouncing back, allowing some light to pierce the darkness. "D-dad I know… but that was before I… I-arh, it's all so messed up."

Messed up. He had really done that. It hadn't helped that Artemis was pulling some unseen strings. For someone "on the fence" he sure was doing a lot of… different things and not all of them seemed… clean. For one, what had he done to deserve a place beside Stoick. Where was he now anyway? And on the notes of help, it didn't even help that Astrid had finally seen him, really seen him and tried to help him. After all, two voices weren't louder than one in a crowd of hundreds. And if you counted the spirits, the legends, the gods, thousands of Vikings were against them. It was all so messed up. Images flickered past in his mind as he tried to bring order to the chaos: Astrid kissing him, Toothless trusting him, his father voicing his pride, Artemis confiding in him, the romantic flight ending in the Nest… The Nest! Oh gods, he had completely forgotten about that horrible picture. And he had promised Astrid to do something about it today. And he had messed up again. Was that all he was capable of doing?

Stoick was thinking along different lines. Everything he had seen, everything he had associated with the past two days, all the happy feelings, had been nothing more than an illusion. And he should have seen it. He was the chief for Odin's sake. He was supposed to see through every lie, every trick. But when it had come from his own son… he hesitated. He'd hesitated. He'd been willing to be deceived because… he'd wanted to believe. Anger was apparent in his voice when he asked: "So everything you did in that ring was… a trick?" And he almost couldn't bring himself to voice the next words: "A lie?" Hiccup had lied to him? It was so… disheartening, unbelievable, beyond anything he could relate to. Why would Hiccup lie to him about anything?

Hiccup tried to defend himself. The words came easier now – still stumbling, but easier than at the beginning – the truth so eager to come out because he wanted to make his father see reason. Was there still hope to redeem the situation? "I screwed up… I should have told you before now… I-I… Please, take this out on me, be mad at me, but don't… just don't hurt Toothless."

His father turned around, clear disbelief that his son was saying what he was. Had those… _demons_ no moral? How could they have hypnotized his son so badly? "The dragon? That's what you're worried about? Not the people you almost killed!"

Hiccup retaliated: "He was just… he was just protecting me… he's not dangerous…"

"They've killed hundreds of us." Stoick could not believe what he was hearing. Hiccup was defending a Hel-spawn. He had _befriended_ a Night Fury. And he did not see it was just using him to get into the village. To dig at their hearts, to claw open their defenses, to set their houses on fire in the night when they least suspected it. And Hiccup was defending it. He'd even used trickery to try and… to try and convince them otherwise.

Meanwhile Hiccup actually felt small waves of anger. His father was trying to use "logic" that didn't make any sense. He looked his father in the eyes and said: "And we've killed thousands of them. They defend themselves; that's all!"

Stoick could not see a way around this argument and began striding back and forth – after shaking his head at the ridiculousness that his son's argument actually made sense. Hiccup continued though: "They raid us because they have to. If they don't bring enough food back… they'll be eaten themselves. There's… something else on their island, Dad, and…"

"Their island?" Stoick eyes widened. He brought his face closer to Hiccup's and whispered: "So you've been to the Nest?"

First Artemis and now Hiccup. This was… indescribably weird. That would mean the saddle on the dragon… had been used… or perhaps Hiccup had tried to use it in his naivety and had then been brought to… their island in the claws of that beast to be subjected to hypnotism. Stoick hoped this was the truth. Maybe if his son wasn't himself he could still be saved.

"Did I say Nest?"

"How did you find it?" Stoick prayed to every god there was his son wasn't capable of giving the answer. If he wasn't then he really would have been hypnotized by the evil dragons and… things might return to the way they were. Which was infinitely better than now.

"Well, no… I didn't. Toothless did. Only… a dragon can find the island."

This actually interested Stoick. It was an idea. It was a way of not being dependant on the boy that waited just outside the door, and it made sense. After all if the dragons could use Hiccup to get close to the village then they could most likely use the dragons to do the opposite. The idea was so simple and thinking about it, he would also have the chance of bringing the dr-… _demon_ as far away from Hiccup as possible. Returning to Hiccup though, he knew his son was long gone. He… wasn't Hiccup anymore. He'd been infected with an incurable disease and Stoick knew what he must do. It didn't make it any easier though to do it. Hiccup was rambling meanwhile, but Stoick didn't listen anymore. Hiccup wasn't his son anymore.

"No… no, Dad, please… it's not what you think, you don't know what you're up against, it is like nothing you've ever seen…"

Stoick just pushed Hiccup aside. He knew what he must do. But he sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to do it until he came back from the end of the war. If only Hiccup would shut up.

"I promise you, Dad, you can't win this one… n-no… please," Hiccup threw himself at his father, grabbing onto his arm and trying to hold him back and make him understand that it would be a death sentence to go to the island, "Would you please, for once in your life just LISTEN TO ME!"

Hiccup was instantly on the floor. He had been thrown to the ground and now he stared up at his father's looming figure – once again his face was obscured by the bright light streaming from the doorway – and he heard the words pass from Stoick's lips: "You've thrown your lot in with them. You're not a Viking. You're not my son." And with those words Stoick left Hiccup in the darkness of the Hall.

Nothing. Nothing passed through Hiccup. He wasn't sure how to feel. All his life he had tried to be a Viking and now he would never be a Viking. He'd been cut loose. He'd been disowned. He was as good as dead. Nothing could change that.

Artemis saw Stoick come from the dark covers of the Hall with a strange expression on his face. It was an expression filled with steel and thoughts of war and yet his eyes betrayed his true feelings as did the small stumble he did; he was immensely sad. While he was trying to keep a tough exterior, Artemis knew in that moment that he still loved his son. And had it not been demanded of him, he would never have done what he'd just done. Maybe if things had gone just a tiny bit different Stoick would have seen reason and would have trusted Hiccup. Maybe he would have listened just now and Hiccup would have convinced him. But what had happened, had happened and he would have to make the best of it.

It had been hard to listen to their conversation. Artemis had heard the entire second half after realizing that everything wasn't lost just yet. Not until the fat lady sings. Artemis unconsciously thought of an opera he'd seen, the beginning of a new game. That game had ended less than favorably. But he knew if anyone could turn around a sinking ship it would be him. But he needed to be brought up to speed and he'd hoped Hiccup could bring his father to his senses. Though the probability of that happening had been less than 3 percent. Still Artemis now knew the way to the island, which meant he could survive until then. And all he needed was time.

Still the possibilities were slipping away. And so when Stoick exited the hall Artemis said: "What do we do now?"

Stoick stood still for a moment, trying to regain his balance from his mental shock – it felt like coming from the steamhouse and then jumping into the icy sea, it was like waking up from a good dream and finding yourself in a nightmare – but he wasn't about to show weakness in front of someone whom Odin had blessed. He disguised his displeasure of the situation by yelling: "READY THE SHIPS!" And then turned to Artemis: "We end this war."

Artemis merely nodded and watched as Stoick went to prepare for the trip. When Stoick had vanished in the distance Artemis opened the door to the Mead Hall. "Hiccup?" he asked.

Hiccup hadn't moved, hadn't thought anything wince his father left, but upon seeing Artemis, something snapped inside him. Whether or not Artemis had been to blame for the situation, he'd definitely done something, and that was enough for Hiccup in that particular moment. Hiccup didn't want his father to die in the war, he didn't want Toothless to die, he didn't want anyone else to die, Vikings or dragons. He wanted nothing more than to be accepted and that drive had led him down a road where he had no chance of actually succeeding. So when Artemis asked without feeling for Hiccup's attention, Hiccup stormed Artemis.

If he'd been just a bit closer to the door, Artemis would have been the victim of Hiccup's outstretched hands as he would have tried to strangle him. But as it were Artemis was prepared for surprises, as long as they coincided with his general beliefs and you did not need to be a successful psychologist – such as Artemis – to see that Hiccup had just suffered a major mental blow and would therefore be susceptible to very uncharacteristic stimuli. Such as violence. So Artemis simply looked Hiccup in the eyes and said: "Calm down." Artemis immediately let go of the magic as to not waste anymore.

Hiccup stopped like he'd hit a wall. And yet the hypnotizing effect had done its work. Hiccup had in that one moment seen everything Artemis felt, like he'd done the first time, only this time it had been so much clearer. Hiccup saw the glimmer of hope his friend had. This had the necessary calming effect. But he also saw guilt in Artemis face. Was he also blaming himself, like he did? For a while they just stared at each other. Then Hiccup said: "What's with your eye?"

"Contact lens. To avoid raising suspicion. This is my real eye."

Hiccup nodded absently. "Why did you come here?"

"Because I have not found a way out of this mess and I was hoping you could help me."

"And what makes you think I could be of any help to you. You seemed to be able to handle the village just fine without me." Hiccup could not keep a bit of anger out of his voice. Where had Artemis been?

Artemis sensed Hiccup's anger and acknowledged it. He'd deserved it. But there was no time for such things. In rapid succession Artemis told Hiccup what he'd done. Without lying he told what had happened in broad strokes. He half expected Hiccup to walk out on him then and there. Maybe he expected to be hit; Astrid had certainly had that tendency towards Hiccup from what he'd seen of her and Hiccup interacting. But Hiccup just smiled weakly: "At least you didn't screw up as badly as I did."

Artemis said nothing. He didn't think either of their failures could be considered the bigger one, but he had to agree that Hiccup had fallen further and the effects of failing had more impact on him. This was his homeground and he'd just been defeated. "And yet we're still here. And we can still do something."

Suddenly the bell struck outside. One single note. It was the signal for leaving. Artemis sighed: "Don't give up hope. Speak with Astrid. Speak with your other friends." At this Hiccup couldn't help but think: _What other friends?_ Artemis paused. This sounded stupid in his head, but Hiccup seemed to be the kind of guy who believed in that sort of speech and damned be that it sounded embarrassing... "I'll believe in you. You can make a difference, Hiccup, you just need to know where that difference is needed."

Stoick yelled from outside the door, calling for Artemis. Artemis gave a final encouraging "Good luck" and then hurried out the door. Stoick just looked questioningly at him. "What did you want with… the stranger?"

"Nothing important. Just… different people interest me and… _the stranger_ as you call him, is quite interesting. You know I know some things you don't, but about him… he seems important."

"Aye. He's so important that he is the trigger to end the war. And he will never be important again." Stoick said this final bit to reassure him that Hiccup would vanish out of his life as easily as a bad dream. Although… his wife's dying words were still part of his nightmares… and they still stayed with him, after all he'd just brushed them off. Using his iron will he forced himself back to reality and asked: "How do we get to the island?"

Artemis answered: "As much as I'd love to show you, I believe a dragon is better suited than I." Stoick winced at the prospect of this. But he'd expected this development. After all Hiccup had said the same and though Hiccup hadn't been normal, he certainly knew what he was talking about. After spending time with that _devil_ Hiccup at least knew the location of the Nest though Hiccup was now... a stranger. He was going to have to return the favor... by striking hard and true upon every one of the guilty ones.

After making it to the docks he immediately ordered the dr- _devil_ to be bound and then placed upon the front ship, the flagship. After a fair amount of work they succeeded by trapping the dragon with thick wooden bars around its body and its neck. These bars were then chained to a metal platform with iron chains. The demon tried to resist, but quickly found it was pointless and rested saving its strength for when the Vikings let their guard down. But that wouldn't happen.

Artemis understood every word of the dragon's struggles. Though Toothless was mad at the Vikings he'd gotten the message from Hiccup: Don't hurt the Vikings. So however much pain they caused him, however much they humiliated him he didn't retaliate. What he did however was snap at them in words and occasionally but more and more rarely he called for Hiccup.

Stoick called out: "Set sail. We head for Helheim's gate." Stoick then moved to the front of the boat and whispered something to the dragon: "Lead us home… _devil_!" And with that he stood at very front of the boat staring out towards what he believed to be the end of his troubles.

Artemis looked back as the ships set sail and saw Hiccup standing at the top of a cliff looking over the sea and the armada. He was watching Artemis and Toothless and made a look that said everything: "Look after him." Artemis smiled in return, but he didn't feel like smiling. He was beginning to understand that they were going to war. War meant blood and battle and none of those were particularly high on Artemis' wishlist. Artemis went to the front of the boat where Stoick stood.

Stoick hadn't looked back, not even once since they left. If he had he was afraid of what he might do. He'd seen Hiccup stand there, looking empty on the top of the cliff and now… he realized that the more time passed the more he regretted not having spent more time with Hiccup. If he'd done so then maybe none of this would have happened. Even now when he'd disowned him he still felt like he could save him from the clutches of malice and cruelty – he could save him from those _devils_. And yet he had no idea how to. So when Artemis came up on his side, it was a welcome distraction.

"We're going to hit them hard and they have no idea." Stoick stroked his axe with a gentle touch. Today was the day. He continued: "Do you know what we're up against? How many they are? What we can do against them?"

"Answered in order: Something big. A lot. And as for what we can do against them," Artemis answered cryptically, "I need time with this one." He gestured to the black dragon who had its eyes cast upon the ground.

Stoick just grunted. It made sense to question a spy and yet his every belief said that whatever Artemis was suggesting wasn't even possible. But the boy was powerful and he had to admit that the knowledge they could gain would prove invaluable and would most likely end the war faster and with less casualties.

Artemis sat down beside Toothless. "We are marching to war. A war which neither part can win, because neither side has a reason for fighting. We are marching towards random violence."

"The sky is crying," Toothless commented dryly upon seeing the early sundown.

"Better cry now, where nothing irreversible has happened, than later where chaos breaks free and rules the world."

"Enough with the poetic blabber. What are your plans?"

"I have none."

It was true. Artemis had no power over what he had unleashed. If he did a single thing that was even remotely suspicious he would be thrown overboard and lost to the waves forever. And if he waited he would die in the war. The only real "hope" was that Hiccup would realize that he could somehow use what was at his disposal to convince the other dragons – Artemis wished bitterly he had gotten this idea earlier, but he had only gotten it when speaking with Stoick – but he had faith in Hiccup. If nothing he had at least learned something from this surreal experience - he'd learned to trust more readily. He hadn't learned to hope, though. Hope was a fool's errand. Here he was, an unknown place surrounded by… subjects (Artemis hadn't decided if he considered the Vikings friends or foes as they could turn at any minute), a single nonhuman friend helping him save the world. A single human friend far away and getting further away. And he couldn't do a thing to influence any of it anymore. It was ridiculous and degrading.

"So it is up to Hiccup. Did you know that goblins and trolls actually exist, but that names does nothing to scare them away?" Toothless was trying to lighten the mood a bit, but seeing Artemis face decided not to say anything else.

Artemis felt powerless. The waves of the ocean was making him seasick. The eternal horizon continuing on and on was making him feel incredibly small, like a pebble in (ironically) the ocean and the icy wind cut through him through his shredded clothing. He was definitely getting a nice flu out of this trip. He was thinking about his family and friends; what were they doing now? Were they looking for him? He smiled – definitely. Holly had stubbornness issues with letting him go, he knew, and Butler would also be looking for him. Maybe Foaly would miss a brain partner and perhaps No 1 could join the group of grievers when they found he was never coming back. They would never find him.

Artemis could feel tears falling over his cheeks but he made no attempts to stop them. Sometimes you had to break your principles and he didn't need to prove himself to anyone here. He didn't need to keep up a façade anymore and now that he was thinking about... everyone, he couldn't stop them. He wasn't going to fulfill the third part of his plan ever. If he was lucky maybe the first and second part would magically just happen, but the third was purely fictional. It was… impossible. Artemis didn't really make a sad face as the tears continued. He was just… happy to be crying for once. He'd accepted his fate. Toothless noticed but said nothing.

Artemis finally answered after gathering himself: "Yeah. I do know."

Toothless looked confused at him for a moment, where did that one come from? But Artemis continued as he felt he still needed to explain himself and seeing as none of the Vikings understood him, Artemis told Toothless his story, the true one this time. He explained how he knew goblins, trolls, elves and others. He explained he had saved the world before. He explained his change from a darker person, a colder person, to a warmer one. He explained his life in incredible detail because it made the time pass and the more time passed the more Artemis found he could deal with the chaos around him. He ended his monologue with what he had been pondering during this trip.

"I am confused as to what made me appear here. In this time. I could understand if I appeared in a past from ten years ago. But I have appeared far away from what the laws of time could possibly be stretched to. Therefore I have three theories: One, I could have fallen into a crack in time created from my interference with time. This is highly unlikely and I would never have considered something like this happening if not for my circumstances. The second theory is that somewhere in the future someone has invented a time travelling device to transport me to this place, because it is crucial that I amend your future, to make a certain event happen. Or three, a combination of both. All of these theories are of course only based on the knowledge I have right now and are subject to change if new information is gathered, but I'm confident they are at least partial truth… however crazy they sound. Someone once said: when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Silence followed. Artemis could think of nothing else to say, but Toothless seemed content - when Artemis talked a bubble sort of kept them from thinking about everything happening around them. Both felt a bit better thinking about something else other than their most likely impending doom. And now that Artemis had nothing more to say it was time to face the end.

More hours passed and soon a misty castle could be seen. Rocks that seemed to shatter even the ocean into a thousand pieces were seen between the covers of the mists. And they were heading straight towards it. Stoick came to the front of the ship. "It's a sight for sore eyes, isn't it? Welcome to Helheim's Gate. Also known as the hiding spot for the dragons' Nest."

Artemis stoically pointed out: "I've already been here. In my nightmares."

Stoick just grinned: "Aye. Nightmares is coming from this place. But when the sun rises tomorrow, it'll be over - no more nightmares. May the peace bring happiness."

"And so it shall happen." Hopefully happiness would happen; just in another way than how Stoick was thinking about it. _Hiccup_, Artemis thought, _you'd better hurry._

The ships now began entering the souplike fog. Immediately the armada was reduced from twenty ships or so to three. At least that was what it looked like. However it was just nearly impossible to see anything and so you could only see the two ships following the leading ship.

Stoick yelled: "Find your positions… and stay within earshot."

The man with the interchangeable hand, whom Artemis had found out was Gobber, the village smith, came up on the other side of Stoick. Gobber began: "Listen, Stoick, I was overhearing some of the men and they are wondering what we are doing here, and well not me of course, you know I know that you're always the man with the plan, but some men are wondering if there… is a plan at all and what it might be?"

Stoick whispered out with infinite hatred in his voice: "Find the Nest and take it down."

"Ah, ok. Good plan. The old Viking fallback – nice and simple."

Artemis pointed out very silently while the two Vikings talked. "I think it's time you found your way home."

Toothless was frightened. This place had too many bad memories. He tried a calm approach, but broke down when he heard something in the distance: "Of course... But it's not like I can stop it! She's calling. And she is angry!"

Artemis wasn't liking what he heard, but he went with it. He explained to Stoick they just needed to follow where the dragon was looking. Stoick went to the tiller and began steering the ship to the right. The ship almost hit a ragged rock that would have instantly sunk the proud ship and they all heard the dull sound of the lessened impact. This was going to require some precision work. But Stoick was on fire. If he couldn't finish the promise to his dying wife then he would at least fulfill the unspoken promise. Kill them all. It was time to get revenge.

EDIT: Finally spellchecked. There was a lot of broken sentences, sorry. But it should make sense now

This was the unlucky chapter 13, ooh scary. Next chap should have everything righted though. One or two chapters left of part one depending on how much I can describe from memory. And I get to finish just in time for my tests to come up next week. Guh. I'm going to have to study. But I think I can take a few breaks to continue writing this. Two more days and we're entering March.


	14. Nest

Phew. Sometimes I think the whole world is against me. I think my new unlucky number is 14. This chapter is a result of hard work – physically hard work. In order: First my laptop breaks down, my mom gets angry at her boyfriend and they split up (!), she has a mental breakdown while I'm in school and they get back together at the end of the first evening (the hell?). I borrowed my mom's boyfriend's computer to write the first half. Then that computer breaks down and I write some more on a school computer. When I get home I spend three hours repairing the first computer and when that worked I finished writing this chapter. Then, the internet and our phones went down because a wire was cut and after travelling to my father I could use his computer to publish this. Oh, and on another note, my backup (USB-drive) vanished. Guh. And the supermarket stopped showing HTTYD. Guh times two because I now have to remember again. Longest rant ever? No, but the longest I've written at least. Finally the random statistic for today: 800 hits; O_O and we jump skipped 700 hits as well, oh my :-). And I haven't even spellchecked chapter 13! Sorry, I will get around to that. Hope you like this chapter as well. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though .

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 14: Nest.

The boat scraped against yet another cliff. And yet again they had reacted only just in time before being cruelly sunk to the bottom of an inescapable grave. _Just to enter another_, Artemis thought. Listening to Toothless when he wasn't completely out of it, when he wasn't seeing the ghost of the dictator everywhere, it did not sound like there was any kind of gold at the end of the rainbow. Just another monster and another way to die. Where was Hiccup? Had he failed to encourage Hiccup? Or had Hiccup failed? How much time had passed?

Stoick wasn't pleased with the situation either. At first it had seemed so easy; just follow the dragon's turning head as it listened to where it was supposed to go. Now however he cursed as yet again the limits of his reaction speed was being tested – they'd even lost a ship behind them. No one had died though, as the surrounding ships had been quick with the ropes and the men who had fallen in the water were good willed by Odin. A bit irritated as to whether or not the labyrinth would ever end, they continued through the mists of Hel.

Toothless was having hallucinations. The Queen singing did that to a dragon when she was really angry – it was the way she could make a single target stand still for long enough for her to eat it, a simple defensive mechanism much like Artemis' hypnotic ability although this one only needed to be heard. The downfall of that evolution was that the hypnotic effect could be broken. Each time Artemis asked a question; "Are you ok?", "Do you know where we are?" or even "Toothless, what time is it!" Toothless returned to reality and was able to say a few words to answer the question before sinking into confusion and mindlessness again.

They'd been under way for five hours now total. Half an hour had passed since they'd exited the relatively safe waters around Berk and entered these tense waters. Gobber had tried to break the tension when they'd passed a destroyed Viking ship that had been hoisted up to about three meters above sealevel ("I was wondering where that went"), but the tension remained. The sun had long gone because of the mist, though the light of the midnight sun could still be seen if you looked up. Artemis guessed that if he was still on Earth, he'd be at some very northbound island, perhaps the Faroe Islands or some undiscovered island southwest of Svalbard. It was pretty cold, but he didn't find it particularly bad and he'd heard Svalbard was iced over so he didn't think he was that far north. Of course all of this information passed through Artemis in just ten seconds, but for those ten seconds he didn't think of his most likely fate. And suddenly the boat stilled with a loud crash.

Stoick walked to the front of the boat. After quickly surmising the surroundings – an unidentifiable noise roamed the area making it hard to think clearly, a large mountain loomed over the ships threatening to scare everyone away by its sheer presence – he said: "We're here," and jumped off, landing on a rocky beach. Immediately the noise went away. The mists had actually cleared around the island and it was possible to see about a hundred meters in each direction though trying to see off the island was still impossible. Stoick felt elated and relieved, but the situation was still a bit tense. They had made their way to the island and now the dragons had no way to hide. Now would be the beginning of the real battle. As for the… _devil_… he had no further use for it. After making a short round and barking a few orders to set up their trebuchets and catapults he climbed onto the ship again.

Artemis noticed the murder in the other man's eyes. He knew he had to step in front of Toothless if Stoick tried anything and he racked his brain trying to think of a way to persuade Stoick to wait with his pointless bloodshed. He had to assume Hiccup was somehow on his way to his location now and he needed to hold the fortress here. So when Stoick drew his huge axe, Artemis responded: "You shouldn't do that just yet."

"And why not? If we leave it alive, it's possible for the other dragons to free… it during the battle and it will strike us down without mercy. So why should we not do the same when we have the chance?"

"First, I'm staying with the dragon. Do you think _anyone_ or _anything_ could _possibly_ get past me? Second, if we kill it now the surprise attack is ruined. The dragon's death wail will even bring morale to them all making them even more interested in your demise. For these two reasons, continue setting up the perimeter and then prepare to strike. We could for instance bring this one home and make it the last kill." Artemis lifted his eyebrow invitingly and whispered so only Stoick could hear it: "You could make… the stranger… kill it and he would be redeemed."

At this Stoick stepped back, shocked by the amount of sense the boy was making. Sometimes he forgot he was speaking to someone who had witnessed the birth of the world. It was a bit unnerving, but he acknowledged the logic. "So be it. The beast gets to live another day."

Toothless growled at his statement, but settled down again quickly. It was safest to assume a friendly manner right now as to not strengthen Stoick's argument. Luckily Stoick had already returned to helping other ships dock on the shore, and begin building the first of the trebuchets. Toothless felt better now that the Queen's song had stopped – he wasn't in the psychedelic land anymore – but returning to reality was a harsh reminder. Hiccup was somewhere unknown (Toothless tried to find the bond he'd felt when Hiccup was in danger; if he could locate Hiccup as he had done before it could give some answers as to where he was, but Toothless didn't know how to activate the bond at will). He was captured and would likely die either from Viking hands or by being eaten as a traitor. Life always seemed infinitely fun in these situations.

Toothless had been in deep a few times before, but it had usually amounted to: "You didn't bring back enough food last time, and you are next if the quota is not restored during the next raid!" or "Stupid hatchling, fire might be your friend, but don't relish in it – you will burn from the inside out if you do not respect it." The first had been a time when he had overslept and had not protected the others, upon which the end result was a lot of them ended up as meals. The second was further back; he'd tried to swallow the fire he had just blown – a very stupid idea. But both of these had ended in a warning and then everything had been righted as he didn't do either again. This time it seemed, he would not get a warning.

And as it seemed the time of warnings was over and stuff was actually happening Toothless drew his attention to the beach in front of the boat. Red-beard (yeah, his name was Stoick, Toothless knew, but it was easier to remember Red-beard) had gathered the rest of the big shot Vikings around him and pointed at some sort of drawing.

Artemis was amongst the brightest strategists on that side of the globe, but he wasn't allowed to interfere with the plan Stoick had made. If they discussed internally how to frontally assault the mountain – Artemis actually questioned if it was a volcano, but that was a sidetrack – then more time would pass than Artemis cutting cleanly through and telling them how they should probably spread out rather than use their numbers; if the dragons had some sort of… way of instantly finishing off a large number standing close to each other, then it would be in their best interest to spread into three or five groups and come from multiple sides. However, Artemis realized he would not have to say anything as Stoick began drawing on the ground with a stick.

The diagram showed three groups attacking the mountain from different sides – one frontal assault and two flanks. He accompanied the diagram with a few words: "When we crack this mountain open, Hel is going to break out…" "…in my undies. Good thing I brought extras!" Gobber commented.

Stoick lifted a hand and total silence immediately fell over all the Vikings. This was the signal. "No matter how this ends…" Stoick said. He tasted the words, tried to find meaning in what he was about to do. But deep inside of him – past all the "Viking's blood and honor", his quest for revenge, his disowned son, broken promises, crushed happiness and secret curses – he felt no happiness for war. For battle, yes. If he needed to defend his honor he would gladly battle. But war, for the sake of war… no. It reminded him of Artemis' story and he wondered if war wasn't what had set off the prophecy of Ragnarok in the first place. And now they just did it again. And only because that was the way of the Vikings. In this moment, Stoick realized exactly how many things were lost in a war. But he could not ponder over this anymore, there was no stopping now and he finished: "It ends today!"

Seven muffled sounds of machines of war doing their unfair jobs could be heard followed by seven stabbing sounds of rocks swishing through the air like a siren's song and seven loud explosions of noise were heard to end the overture to war. Stoick ran forward as a hole appeared in the side of the mountain. It looked like they'd struck a wound in the darkest reaches of Hel itself, as on the other side of the hole lay a bottomless dark hole. Stoick stared into the darkness, trying to assess the situation and figure out what to do.

Artemis stood on the ship next to Toothless, when the next signal was made from Stoick. A resin-soaked boulder was lighted on fire and shot off towards the black door. It soared over Stoick and as it passed a dreadful sound – not unlike a nest of bats who are exposed to light – exploded out of the opening. Shrieks of pain and freedom came from the opening and though Artemis could distinguish these two cries as the most dominant of the immense amount of voices coming from the mountain, he froze when he heard something rumbling that no one else seemed to hear – something underneath the other voices.

With a war cry Stoick charged into the darkness. Suddenly dragons of all sizes and colors thrashed to get out of the hole behind him. Stoick swung his massive hammer at some of them to keep them at bay, while his other hand rested on the hilt of the axe, but all of the dragons seemed content at running away. After ten seconds of confusion all of the dragons were airborne and fleeing from something like their life depended on it. Which Stoick supposed made sense – after all, their lives did depend on it – but still, usually the dragons would have been all over them by now. They didn't even look back. Stoick returned to the entrance of the cave staring at the escaping dragons. Gobber asked: "Is that it?"

Someone shouted: "We've done it!" Toothless snorted. If a dragon would have the ability to pale, then Toothless would have been a ghost right now. Both he and Artemis heard the rumbling voice that was so deep it could not be heard clearly over the noise of the cheering Vikings… yet. It said: "Run, run to the sky. It will not help you. Crawl, crawl into the ground. It will not hide you. Fear, fear me worms for I am Mordana, the Queen of this world and you have just freed my anger. It shall be swift and merciful in the eyes of the world, slow and painful in the eyes of my enemies and just and true in the eyes of those who wish to serve me, for they have seen the light. I am the harbinger of destruction, the chosen one of the Sky Lord to end this world and start the next and you have interfered with my plans. I shall erase all trace of your existence. You may not beg your gods for mercy for I ate them all to satisfy my hunger. And one day I shall eat the world and give birth to a new one. I am…"

Artemis paled as the monologue continued. This did not bode well. It reminded him too much of Opal, but this voice was far more along the path of madness than even Opal. Toothless thrashed to get away, but he was locked in his own portable prison and it still held him.

And then Stoick saw Artemis' face which had gone far paler than any living creature should be able to, he saw the dra…_de_… forget it, dragon thrashing trying to escape as well and now he heard the rumbling noise…

"This… this isn't over!" he yelled. "Form your ranks! Hold together!" Stoick turned around to face whatever was coming. And he knew that whatever was coming was bad. But he'd been in worse. The feelings of melancholy over a war they should not fight was vanishing in the rushes of adrenalin he was feeling as cracks formed all over the dark hole all nearing the exit. Stoick nearly passed out from what he was seeing. Had it not been for a faint vision of Hiccup shouting _'you don't know what you're up against'_ he would most likely have been trampled flat right then and there. But as it were, he now knew what he was up against and it really was unlike anything he'd ever seen; but he'd still been prepared for something and that preparation made him able to jump out of the way as the entire mountain crumbled around him. "Get clear," he screamed at the front platoon of soldiers.

Artemis gasped. Several people screamed. Toothless thrashed wildly trying to escape his bonds. Artemis wanted to move, to help Toothless get out of his bonds, but he could not. The word fear did not even cross his mind. Nothing crossed his mind. He just stood gaping – a single memory of Toothless telling him of the dragon dictator making its way through his brain – at the sheer disbelief of the size of the dragon that was crushing the mountain to get out. An absolutely _massive_ dragon – not even this word could describe the dragon's size – exploded outwards of the mountain.

"Beard of Thor, what is that?" Gobber exclaimed as he and Stoick watched the monster shaking off the tons of stone that rattled off its huge body. The bluish dragon turned its head and glared at them – like they were ants – and Stoick felt had to agree with Gobbers statement, but found himself unable to say anything. His knees were buckling, his life passing by in fragmented memories, before everything came back to him and he simply said "Odin help us," before turning and running.

With an earsplitting roar, Artemis was brought out of his trance and he turned to Toothless who was still in need of his help. Artemis fumbled with the locks on the bond, but he managed to release one side of the lock. He tried to get up and around Toothless to get to the second lock, but something interfered…

Stoick was recovering from the shock of the appearance of the big lump – this was the true devil – but he had enough sense to yell an order: "Fire the catapults!" To credit the catapults last shot would be pointless; they did about as much damage as toothpicks do to a mountain. One of the front catapults was eaten. Someone screamed: "Get to the ships!" At this Stoick put his foot down, that would definitely be a wrong move. The dragon would simply flame them when they got on the ships. He tried to counteract the scream by yelling: "No… NO!"

But at this point, that helped about as much as one could expect. The dragon opened its massive jaws and a huge burst of fire came out, engulfing half the ships in the first burst alone. It then turned its head while keeping a continuous stream of fire towards the other half of the ships. Now all of them were on fire. It was pure chaos. Casualties were inevitable but it was impossible to say what had happened to each individual person. However…

… Artemis was thrown overboard. As he had tried to move around Toothless, he found himself dumbstruck at the massive horizontal pillar of fire that came towards him. He moved backwards – not fast enough, not fast enough! – and tripped on a rope. Falling backwards over the railing as the rope went around his ankle, the fire stream reached the boat he was on, and for one moment, Artemis was in hell. Everything was burning – his eyes, his clothes, his body – and he couldn't think, couldn't feel himself falling. And then he hit the water and everything came back to him. He had no air in his lungs; everything had been exhaled upon contact with the flames and he now desperately needed air.

Artemis wasn't the greatest swimmer and he could feel despair shutting down his functions as the torrent tried to drag him to the bottom of the sea. He swam with all his might, but there was no fighting it. Artemis realized, he was gone. He had no realistic chance of reaching air at this point, Toothless was still fighting his bonds and no one had seen him fall into the ocean. Everything was over.

Artemis could only stare as the torrent turned him around… and there was light. Something was ripping him apart, he could not see, he could not breathe, he was… With a burst Artemis exploded through a portal into a familiar room. Getting up slowly, looking around he saw several familiar people looking at him and he knew he was dead. It was Butler – good old, Domovoi – Holly, No 1, Qwan and even Foaly staring at him through a laptop. Artemis tried to find words to reassure them, but Butler came first: "Artemis?"

"Yes, old friend, I have died. Is this our eternal resting place? The next plane of existence? The life beyond?"

Holly cried out: "Artemis, you're safe!" And without any further words she threw herself around his neck and pulled him closer to her. "I thought you were dead…" Holly cried upon his shoulder.

Artemis asked: "Is this a dream? Am I… alive? How?"

No 1 flexed his fingers: "The two of us," he gestured to Qwan, "figured it'd be a good test to test some theories on alternate universes. We didn't actually expect to succeed… but the result: We found you!"

Artemis was still dazed. "But, how?"

Foaly couldn't help but throw in a snide remark: "That's Artemis in a nutshell. As soon as he gets back he asks questions, even when they don't make sense. You should know Fowl this is going up on the Internet. 'Artemis Fowl coming back from time travel: "Is this our eternal resting place?"' Priceless. Just priceless." Foaly had tried to imitate the surrealism in Artemis voice (he failed miserably) and now he was cracking up over his own joke.

"Stop bothering Artemis, Foaly, I have been nervous and you know I don't do 'nervous' well. You don't want to have a 'previously nervous, now angry' Butler coming down to you, would you?" Butler said threateningly while the centaur suddenly choked on his sniggering. Butler turned to Artemis again: "Artemis… you're back."

Artemis tried to get this statement to fit. Looking at the faces of his friends, No 1 grinning excitedly for no reason at all, Qwan with a more dignified happy smile, Holly with a huge grin standing beside him, Butler with aftershock effects of Artemis return apparent in his eyes – but still very happy – and Foaly firing off irritating comments to everyone who wanted to hear. It felt like he was back… and yet something was off.

Foaly still tried to start a conversation: "…should have invited Mulch, would've been much more interesting to actually have someone to speak to. People, DO SOMETHING!"

Artemis turned around and saw immediately what was wrong. The portal was still there. Water was dripping into the room from the soaked rope that was still attached to the portal. And he knew he had to go back. He knew why he had to go back. Well, he guessed why, but his guesses were usually spot on. Now he just needed confirmation.

"No 1… you said you didn't expect to succeed. Why?"

"Well… because you were in an alternate universe. The energy required… it would be… it should be impossible… It should have killed you, Artemis, but it didn't!"

"No, I am very much alive, thank you. However, I can't stay." At this the entire room burst out: "WHAT?"

"I can't stay," Artemis continued calmly, "The only reason I am alive and talking to you is because I'm still part of the alternate universe, see?" Artemis lifted the rope that was still attached to his right leg. "This rope ties me to the alternate universe, which means the only energy you are using is to keep the time stream open – that isn't very challenging. However if this rope leaves me, then you will need to actually transport me into this time – something that would, as you said, kill me. I can conclude that I, myself, will need to find a way home from the alternate timeline. And I need to go back now…" Artemis didn't continue. They didn't need to know there was a war going on. "I'll find my way back, I promise. Just wait for me."

Sheer disbelief was present from most of the room's occupants, Butler having heard a similar version of the end of his speech before, but both Qwan and Foaly reached the same conclusion as Artemis. "He's… he's right. We can't do it. We shouldn't have been able to do it, because we couldn't do it properly. We must… let him go," said Qwan carefully.

Holly lashed out. "Then one of us should go with him."

"It's not possible, Holly," Foaly said sadly, "you'd die just as Artemis would die if he took the rope off. The travel is supposed to kill you. What happened anyway, Artemis? How did you survive the one-way trip to the alternate universe?"

"No time to explain, Foaly. Just… take care of yourselves," all of the room's inhabitants questioned whether this was really Artemis saying that statement, "and I'll come back. For good, next time."

"Can't you…" Holly tried, but stopped herself. _Can't you take off the rope, take a chance, we can't lose you again…I can't._ But it was an impossible question. If it went wrong, Artemis would die. But now he had to go and that could end just as badly, and they wouldn't even know about it. Sometimes the world felt like it was against Artemis and Holly ever meeting, and it showed it by trying to separate them by throwing them into impossible situations. Holly looked up at Artemis as he said: "Bye."

And with that word and a sharp pain in his chest Artemis stepped back. Once again… a sharp light, everything happening all at once and suddenly he was in the ocean again. There was no current anymore; apparently that had been caused by the portal. Artemis still needed air though. Swimming to the surface, he gasped for air as he broke through the barrier.

The world was on fire around him. Every ship was on fire, chaos was dictating the battlefield so that no one could get an overview and least of all Artemis who had enough trouble in staying above the water. Artemis quickly swam to the boat with Toothless on it. The dragon was okay, although scared of the fire around it and still being caught in its bonds. But the fright vanished when Artemis climbed back on the boat.

"Artemis! You're okay!" Toothless tried to look at Artemis, but found himself unable to actually turn his head and confirm it wasn't a ghost walking towards him. Artemis grinned painfully, consequences of his choice still weighing heavily on him, but he still liked seeing the dragon happy to see him. This was neither time nor place though. "Toothless, what's happening?"

"Other dragons came to help…" Before anything else could be said a dragon, a Deadly Nadder by the looks of it, came very close to the burning boat dropping off a passenger before returning out of the smoking and fiery valleys of the burning Viking armada with an order from the small figure now standing between Artemis and Toothless. It was Hiccup.

Artemis couldn't help himself. And this time his smile was genuine: "Hiccup, you made it."

"I did. Quickly Artemis, help me with the lock."

Before any of them could say anything else a massive foot came from nowhere, stomping onto the boat and sinking it. Hiccup and Artemis screamed while Toothless roared, but immediately the world of air became replaced by the world of water.

Artemis quickly swam to the shore. He was wet and cold – the water was extremely cold, now that he noticed it – and he couldn't see Hiccup or Toothless anywhere. Then he realized they were still in the water. Without thinking he jumped into the water as another figure did the same behind him. It was Stoick.

The huge Viking quickly swam down to the unconscious Hiccup and grabbed him and Artemis, much to Toothless' dismay. The dragon fought its hardest to get free of the chains, but he could only watch as all three were taken to the surface. Incredibly, Red-beard came back. Stopping in front of him and just staring into his eyes. And there it all was – revenge, blood, hatred, love, family, forgiveness – and Toothless tried to grunt, he'd seen enough. Then the Viking came close to his head… and he was free, the headlock was off! Quickly shaking off the splinters of his prison he stared again at the Re- at Stoick and decided he was good enough. He'd gotten it from Artemis that this person was Hiccup's father and Stoick had just saved his life, so Toothless grabbed Stoick and with a powerful jump, he flew out of the water, deposited him at the shore and landed on a nearby rock. He roared to Hiccup to hurry.

Hiccup rapidly got up and crawled up onto Toothless saddle. "You got it, bud." He fumbled with the ropes trying to fasten himself, but before they could fly off Stoick stopped them. "Hiccup!"

Stoick had had a revelation. It wasn't very often a Viking as stubborn as him accepted change, but there were some things you just couldn't argue about. Now Stoick just wanted to ask Hiccup forgiveness, he wanted to be more with him from now on, he wanted to apologize, he wanted to be… a father. He'd never actually been one. Even though he'd taken the promise with his dying wife, he'd never actually done anything. But that was going to change: "I'm…I'm sorry… f-for everything."

"Yeah, me too."

Stoick was suddenly afraid. What if Hiccup would die in this fight? How could he have been so careless, thinking about bringing Hiccup into the war and how they would be so... happy together when they were fighting and now that it wasn't daydreaming or prayer to the gods, everything seemed so much closer and deadlier. Stoick had not had many moments when he was truly afraid for his life, but this was because he'd never been raised that way. However he feared for Hiccup's life. After all, he was the only one who could do something about this mess. "You… you don't have to go up there, Hiccup."

Hiccup smirked. "We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard." Those words, so far away. The same words he'd always said when they were attempting the impossible and beating the odds. Stoick returned the smile: "I'm proud… to call you my son."

"Thanks, Dad."

Artemis had respectfully kept his distance from the two. Although he couldn't help but smile yet again when he thought of how he could actually check off the first part of his plan to be successful. Maybe there was still hope. However he didn't expect what came next. Toothless turned and said: "You win the game. Climb up."

Artemis blinked. "C'mon, hurry and get on. Before long, we won't have anyone left to save."

Artemis blinked again. Oh no. He didn't like where this was going. One thing was sitting in a jet plane – he'd actually built his own – another was sitting on a dragon. One thing was a mild ride in good fun and a _whole_ other thing was flying to save the lives of hundreds of Vikings getting eaten by the largest dragon to have ever graced the surface. But there was no arguing with a dragon. Artemis knew that. And so he got onto the dragon and using the leftovers of the rope around his ankle to make a knot he tied himself to Hiccup. He would probably need that lifeline.

"Ok, I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Artemis said in a trembling voice. This was not part of the plan. Definitely not. _I must think about happy things,_ Artemis thought as the dragon got ready to pounce upwards. Something, anything to distract him from what was happening or what was about to happen. _I won the game?_ _Oh!_ And then they were off.

I really hope I can end part 1 with a bang. And hopefully everything will sort of quiet down a bit during the next few days so I can check chapter 13 and finish off part 1 in style. Hopefully. Two more days and the end of part 1 coming up.


	15. Plan

Sorry for the late hour of my uploading. I was thinking so much about where I wanted to go with part 2 and 3 that I completely forgot about writing. And so began seven hectic hours… but I did it! This chapter tries to capture the atmosphere of the movie so it's one of my more describing chapters. But that doesn't mean we won't take down an evil dragon in an epic showdown. As for discussing the nature of part two and three, I've decided to take a break – just for a week. This will not only give you guys a chance to actually review my story (what was good and what was bad), but also give me a chance to give a general outline of the entire second part. And again I only write five lines per chapter so it will be a really basic outline and it won't take too much time, just a week.

I've already decided that the next part is where I begin really playing around with the concept of time travel – I think I said I like math earlier and that is because of the extremely systematic way the subject is built up. I've even built up my own system for the story:

Part/Act 1: Past. Hiccup's world. Both characters, story and setting will be kept true to the setting

Part/Act 2: Present. Artemis' world. Characters and setting will be kept, new story though

Part/Act 3: Future. Futuristic world. Characters will be intact, setting and story purely fictional

and I'm thinking there could perhaps even be a

Part/Act 4: I don't know what to call this yet. But it would also involve invented characters. Only Artemis, Hiccup and Toothless would then _not_ be made up by me, and setting and story would also be somewhere different. If you think it sounds interesting, thanks! If it sounds too ambitious, I feel you there too! But I gotta try, you know! And finally, after yet another long rant, today's random statistic goes to… nothing. Because at some point there's just no more point in continuing. I'll continue if you think it's a fun idea though. (*whispering* I suppose you could say 300 visitors to the story is cool so that could be TRS (today's random statistic) ) Thanks for following the story for the passing month. Hope you enjoy the end of part 1.

End of A/N. In case you want to skip the above rant.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though.

Act 1: Past.

Chapter 15: Plan.

And how did it feel to be flying? As in flying on a dragon. And going up almost vertically at breakneck speed and the only thing keeping you in place was a wet rope currently attached around your waist. As the first feelings of flight kicked in, Artemis identified the feeling… and it was not so good. It reminded him of another incident involving a Moonbelt and Holly. And camfoil. And the ocean. Back to the feeling though…

For two seconds Artemis considered screaming. It would be perfectly natural – you usually screamed when something that you didn't plan for suddenly surprised you. However Artemis knew he couldn't scream. It would die in his throat even as he tried it. For one his voice wasn't used to prolonged high notes. Secondly according to the laws of sound if they were moving faster than sound then his voice would not be able to exit his mouth and it would be pointless. Of course it only felt like they were moving faster than the speed of sound – they were most likely moving at about sixty miles an hour. It was fear that made him think otherwise but Artemis was too rational to let fear totally consume him… most of the time (the monster coming out of the mountain took the cake, but other memories pushed as well on his mind; he would have to do something about his freezing-ups). But because both the first and second argument didn't have much logic to them somehow his third argument was the strongest: He wouldn't be dropped. He was in friendly company. And so he had no reason to scream.

It came as a shock to him to realize that he even found himself a lot calmer than he had done on the ground. On the ground… everything had been chaotic, hectic, confused. But from the height they were reaching now, he could see everything. The scattered survivors desperately trying to reach higher ground where a big group of Vikings had taken shelter. Some stragglers flailing in the water trying to reach the shore. And of course the unavoidable monster, the massive dragon roaring at its assailants – two other dragons doing everything they could to distract the giant from flattening the fleeing Vikings – standing in the middle of the battlefield roaring orders from left to right, as if she expected anyone to understand and obey them. "Come over here and I'll EAT YOU!", "Do that again and it will be your last pitiful action – to stand against the new world!" and "Traitors! You shall not be redeemed even if you were to beg for mercy!" No one would ever want to get close to that and it seemed the two dragons had gotten the message. They were employing clever tactics – circling the huge beast keeping it confused and making themselves hard targets.

But as Artemis found himself calming, he did as he usually did when he calmed. He reflected on his actions. Something he should have decided to skip at this moment apparently. Because thinking about it he couldn't help but think about his chance meeting with everyone he knew. He'd been so willing to believe he was dead – at least that would have brought an end to it. His choice of returning seemed worse and worse the more time passed and yet he knew it was the right one. That didn't make it any easier however. And worst of all had been the looks on everyone's faces. He would never have thought anyone could possibly break him without even saying a word, but it had been the case. The quick pace of how things had happened in rapid succession after that had helped in containing these feelings, but now that they came back to him, he felt incredibly disheartened.

Especially Holly's look had been bad. She'd been crying; you could see it in her reddened eyes that looked at him as if he was a ghost returned from the dead and he'd left her again. Artemis quenched these thoughts trying to undermine his sanity, but this brought him to the look in Butler's eyes. It wasn't the expression – it was the eyes. The aura had been nearly black at the prospect of Artemis returning through the portal. It wasn't a surprise really, seeing as Artemis looked quite… battle worn in his "beyond salvation"-suit, but it was still incredibly piercing. _Why must you put everything on yourself?_ That was what those eyes said. Even Foaly had been in an unusually somber mood, not feeling up to lightening the mood with his usual jokes as he probably deemed the air too unstable to such interaction.

All of these dark thoughts clouded Artemis' mind, and so it was only when the wind seared past him – so violently that it made a whining noise – and he realized they were dive-bombing, that he finally got pulled back to reality. Well… whatever reality that was.

Hiccup quickly motioned Toothless to catch the falling Astrid. She and her dragon had been nearly inside the Queen's mouth before Toothless fireball hit with an explosive force. It seemed the Queen had tried to suck in as much of the air as possible which also sucked Astrid closer to the Queen's mouth faster than Astrid's dragon could fly away. The explosion from the fireball however shook her off the dragon and she was now falling through the air. Adrenaline coursed through Hiccup as he and Toothless flipped around and dived to save Astrid.

"Did we get her?" Hiccup asked nervously as they flew out of harm's way or in any case further away from the Queen. Toothless simply looked down between his front legs and saw Astrid hanging underneath him. Somehow the human girl found the strength to give a smile so Toothless politely returned one of his own. A smile of the toothless variant which had given him his name. He still didn't understand the entire reason behind Hiccup blatantly naming him like that, but he supposed it made him who he was when he was with Hiccup. It was his identity summed up in a name. Much the same way with Hiccup; an identity. Dragons did not name each other. So his name, however silly it may come across, made him special. And Toothless definitely like special treatment. As for the reason he never used his teeth when "smiling" the reason was simple; teeth scared humans. Of course they didn't scare other dragons, but humans had something against teeth. Even amongst their own teeth could mean violent intent, though it could also mean "happy". Just one of the few things Toothless had picked up in his study of Hiccup (oh yes, he'd studied Hiccup just as much as Hiccup had studied him). But to be on the safe side a toothless smile usually got the best reception so Toothless stuck with that one.

Hanging upside down one moment and the next moment standing upright on the ground dazed Astrid slightly but she quickly said as loud as she dared: "Go." She was still unsure of the fluttering feelings in her stomach, but… she suspected what they might be. She dared not yell something like "Be careful," but she couldn't say nothing either. So she had said "go." This "go" wasn't like "go and clean the dishes" and it was definitely not like "leave"… it was a passionate "go". It was a "go" that said: "Go… change the future… and show them all."

Several Vikings were gasping amongst the emergency shelter. They could see the entire aerial battle from where they stood – some had even begun discussing which dragon was the coolest or which dragon one of them would like to ride – and their views upon dragons were already changing. They were all suddenly reminded of Hiccup as the "Ultimate Dragon Slayer" and the meaning and hope that name actually gave. Although perhaps it should be changed to "Dragon Rider" now, some of them mumbled. They all cheered though, as the huge dragon toppled over from the next explosion as another dive-bomb hit it straight on the side of its head.

Just a few moments earlier Artemis had for the first time actually noticed Hiccup steering the dragon. The system intrigued him; he could see that Hiccup had a string attached between the "fake" tailfin and the satchel's left strap and he could control the length of said string by moving his foot. This in turn turned the tailfin to match Toothless' real tailfin. It wasn't as much the mechanism that intrigued him though it was the bond between the two. From what he'd gathered from Toothless' stories of Hiccup they'd only met three months prior. This meant he'd somehow built this system _and_ learnt how to use it to perfection in just three months. Possibly even less given that he would also have had to go to dragon training and remain inconspicuous. Artemis had not seen anything like it. Holly and he were friends, Butler and he were friends, he even considered Hiccup his friend. But that was it. This was something deeper than friendship – and it was just a bit unnerving to be a part of. What if they misinterpreted each other? Was there no doubt about what the other was planning to do; were they completely synchronized?

Hiccup didn't know he was being analyzed as he prepared a second dive-bomb. It wouldn't even dent the dragon's thick skin, but it would definitely irritate it. And with anger would come carelessness. Hiccup tried to think of a strategy yet something was hazing his mind. It was like a fly buzzing somewhere in the room that really annoyed the hell out of you, just enough so you couldn't focus on anything else but the fly. But it vanished immediately when Artemis tapped him on his shoulder and yelled: "Hiccup, what are you planning to do? What are its weaknesses?"

Hiccup thought back to when they'd arrived to see they were too late to stop the unleashing of the monster… and he remembered the analysis Fishlegs had provided for them all. _Something about relying on a sense of smell and…_ Hiccup began feeling the return of the buzz… where was that coming from? And again Artemis unknowingly interfered when he asked: "Do you think it could be vulnerable along its belly?"

Artemis would never – not until the day he died – ever admit he'd read fiction until he was six years old. It was galling that he could remember the fantasy element of the dragons from a story that was made up exactly for the purpose of wasting time, but it made some sense that the dragon's scales could possibly be weaker at its underbelly as that would usually be protected by the ground – perhaps evolution, as thin a theory as it were, could prove useful and actually give them a target.

Hiccup quickly said before the buzzing returned: "Artemis, keep talking. Something is… making…"

Artemis gasped. How could he have been so stupid? The Queen… Mordana or something had done the same with Toothless. He'd assumed it only worked on dragons… but it would appear he should scrap that theory as well. "Uhm…" He did not just say that! "I… It's a nice flight, isn't it?" Artemis mentally slammed his head into a wall multiple times. Was he being affected as well by whatever had hit Hiccup or was he just completely taken aback by this random strategy? Was he really that poor at making conversation when his life depended on it? He could almost see Foaly's laughing face or Holly's scolding one if he'd ever tried to say that during his own "flight".

But it worked. Hiccup could now think clearly, though Artemis seemed appalled at the prospect of continuously saying things that weren't actually supposed to make sense, just sentences being there for the sake of being there. So while the boy in the backseat mumbled random (and quite jumbled and broken) sentences to make the buzzing go away, Hiccup finally realized something they could use: The wings!

"That thing's got wings, let's see if it can use them!" Toothless turned around and another fireball detonated against the side of the massive dragon, making it lose its balance for a short while. It roared angrily after them, a roar that rattled every bone in their body, but Hiccup just expectantly waited for the big lump of meat to realize he was goading it on.

Hanging in the air was a bit harder for Toothless apparently when he had two passengers. He praised himself lucky for not having Stoick and Hiccup on his back at one time, though he supposed if he had to he could just hold one of the boys between his claws. That would ease the stress. Toothless grinned at the idea and though he knew he probably wouldn't be allowed to do such a thing it never hurt to use what you had at your disposal. Though he just imagined this to keep his mind off the amount of effort it took to stand still in the air and waiting for the *censored, seriously* to realize she was being taunted.

That was another thing Toothless had picked up from Hiccup – imagination. The boy had an excessive amount of it so much that it gushed out of his brain. And into Toothless. Before everything had been dictated by a certain set of rules. These rules involved that dragons and humans hated each other, a downed dragon was a dead dragon and trust was something that was earned. All of these rules had been shattered when Toothless had come into contact with the young Viking. They had bonded, something not even dragons did often. They had flown together even after Toothless had considered his days of flying over. And most curiously of all, Hiccup had just trusted Toothless completely. There was no question that the boy was still shocked at why he'd done such a thing but he'd come to terms with it. It had been a choice and it had changed everything. Same with Artemis – meeting a stranger as weird as Artemis (and now having heard the backgrounds for his story no other word seemed to fit) and yet Hiccup had thrown all care overboard and had stretched out a helping hand.

Mordana screamed in anger: "I will pull out those wings from your body while you are still breathing and roast the flightless worms on your back, traitor. You will only know true pain after today and you shall never be released from it!" With those words, long and extremely fragile-looking wings spread from the dragon's body. For a moment it seemed the dragon would not be able to leave the ground – there was a hole in one of the wings for Odin's sake – but then the dragon heavily left the ground and soon was following the group as they made for the skies.

Artemis had rolled over every possible subject he could think of and was beginning to analyze each letter of the alphabet. Perhaps he would have followed it up with the numbers from 1-100 (as good a subject as any, really), but at that moment another massive pillar of fire roared past them missing them by just a meter at best. Artemis stopped saying anything for a few seconds, and realizing his slip-up he yelled to make Hiccup hear him: "HICCUP, HIDE IN THE SKIES!"

This had been Hiccup's plan all along, but now that Artemis had stopped saying anything the annoying grind against his skull returned. It was like a soft vibration that made everything look completely different. The feeling didn't take over though and when they'd gained quite a high altitude he pulled over the huge dragon and hid in the clouds. The buzzing became doused. Now that the queen could not see him the magic had vanished. Hiccup racked his brain trying to figure out the next move. He'd gotten the dragon away from everyone else. Now he just needed to take it down – there could be no reasoning made with this dragon. Hiccup knew he'd get to kill his first dragon today, and hopefully his last too. What to do?

Artemis was whispering in his ear: "Weaknesses! I need information, Hiccup, if I am to be any help at all! What are a dragons weaknesses?"

Weakness. Hiccup thought back replaying scenes in his mind. The eels – dragons hated those no matter what species. But there were no eels in the sky. The grass – It made them completely lose touch with the world around them making them unconscious. Even if there had been any grass he wouldn't have been able to use it as it would only delay the dragon. The same with the light beams. It would be delaying tactics. Or the soft spot underneath the chin. Delaying tactics! And then the moment of inspiration: He remembered a happy day. Realizing other dragons were the same as Toothless, a little respect and trust and care and any dragon would show its true nature. And he'd seen how the dragons weren't fireproof on the inside. Toothless had demonstrated it (quite nonchalantly) by firing a small wisp of fire into the Terrible Terror's mouth as it opened its mouth to spew fire.

"Artemis! I've got it."

"Don't waste your breath. Just do it. If we live I will officially count you as having enough luck to dispel even a truly Fowl plan." Artemis grinned. "And if we fail our burned corpses should make for a nice distraction to make the rest of your village to make it to safety." Hiccup eyed him at this statement. He didn't quite get the incredibly morbid humor of Artemis though he'd probably have been able to if Artemis had caught him just a few months prior. At that time everything had seemed so lackluster and dark. Perhaps Artemis was feeling down at the moment? Could that be the reason for his joke or was Artemis like this all the time? Hiccup felt like he hadn't spent enough time to know the answer and as for the joke it seemed too… hopeless and off-putting at the moment. They needed hope now not despair.

It was then that they only just avoided a huge pillar of fire that was sent randomly into a cloud by Mordana. "Where are you hiding, you little pests? Come out and I could reconsider and make you suffer only half an eternity." _Great offer_, Toothless thought. _Only, we'll be going for a better deal_. _No offense meant_. Toothless kept his snide remarks to himself though – he didn't want for them to be discovered just yet. Not until Hiccup deemed they should.

"Let's go, Toothless."

Oh, well. Might as well run with it now that Hiccup was ready. And Toothless voiced his opinion on the great dictator's god complex. "Wow, so you think that half of infinity is any less than infinity. Was that a requirement for the Sky Lord's chosen one – to be as stupid as a stone? Oh, sorry I didn't mean to offend, it's just you kind of look like a stone and, well, you fly equally as bad as one. The intelligence could also equal to one though I think that would be insulting the stone." It did not take long for a pillar of fire to follow this statement. It whistled past them with a loud roar. It only missed them by half a meter.

Stoick stood on the ground watching anxiously at the darkened sky. The only light was the battle going on in the sky – blue lights meant Hiccup and yellowish lights meant evil. Every time a yellow light lit up the sky Stoick could feel himself tense up – to the point of unbearable – and every time a blue light followed Stoick sighed with relief. A lot of the other Vikings around had stopped mumbling; all they did was following the intense invisible battle.

Then suddenly a huge number of blue lights appeared, one after another and they all heard the huge dragon scream.

Toothless was firing a lot of shots. He had to irritate the dragon to the point of where she would open her mouth – expose herself – and he would be able to finish her. He wasn't going to let a single shot exit the ex-queens mouth and he bombarded her with shots to do so. Good thing he hadn't found out his shot limit yet. He'd never needed to find out, but Toothless felt he could keep going and hearing the lady scream "You half-blooded traitor!" was immensely satisfying. It was in that moment disaster struck.

The queen had found herself unable to contain her anger and so she held a continuous firestream and let it swerve everywhere in the hopes of injuring the humans on Toothless' back. Of course Toothless was prepared for such an option – it hurt his pride that he'd failed his unspoken promise so quickly though – but then he realized he hadn't completely avoided the attack. His tail was on fire. _Bad. Not good._

Hiccup yelled as he spotted the flaming appendage or rather, his own creation in flames – Toothless was after all fireproof just as the other dragons. "Time's up. Ok… let's see if this works."

Artemis tensed. It was now that he should regret. Regret his involvement in this… totally. He realized that the tail was important for steering – he knew how important it was in a helicopter or a jetplane and he could easily transfer some horrible pictures from downed aircrafts to the situation they were in now – and so he tried blow on the burning leather. But stopped seconds later. That had been desperate. He was suddenly scared of how he might react if he ever found his house on fire. Would he have reacted the same then? Sidetrack…back to focusing – Artemis realized they had about thirty seconds, at best a minute until they would come crashing down. Think happy thoughts?

Artemis found that more than anything it was helplessness that consumed him the most. He had no involvement in this battle – what was the reason for him even coming here? He assumed he would have to discard his second theory because he had not at all helped during this entire thing to bring peace to the world he was in. He'd been surviving and had understood too late that maybe he was expected to fix the future of the place he'd found himself in. So the second theory – of him appearing because he was needed to make something specific happen – was scrapped. This left only the time crack. And yet now that Artemis thought about it… who was the entity that had guided him to this place in the first place? How did that fit in? Artemis hated being without all the information and for any outsider watching he should not think this as he was on a dragon making a freefall towards the ground… but Artemis reflected it was the only time he had left.

Narrowly avoiding the huge set of teeth the group fell. As they had passed the three eyes on one side (yuck, they were all bloodshot with rage), Hiccup couldn't help shouting: "Is that the best you can do?" The irony was not lost on him. Now that he might be at the end he wasn't afraid of showing some Viking spirit.

Faster and faster they fell.

"We're good buddy, just a little bit longer…"

The wind shrieking past them. Feeling numb from the cold, Artemis realized: _It's bloody cold!_ He hadn't been thinking about it before but now... He would be getting that flu any second now.

The clouds around them. Layer after layer of cloud was passed with no end in sight. The dragon behind them opening its huge jaws.

Stoick saw it… along with everyone else as they gasped. The falling dot and the huge dragon following it. "Hiccup?" Stoick whispered breathlessly. He could not force himself to look away. He had to do something… but what could he do? Stoick felt incredibly vulnerable in that moment. Had he no way of protecting his son? He began running… Hiccup would need him there!

Effort painted across his face, Hiccup could suddenly hear the sound of gas. "Hold Toothless." Time slowed down to a halt. Everything blurred. And it had to be done now or the chance would be forever gone. "NOW!"

Toothless turned in midair and taking just two seconds to aim, he found his target without fail. The mouth of the dragon. Mordana seemed to realize her mistake now, but it was too late for regrets. Her body was burning up inside, wings failing her; she could not pull up. She could just watch as the smaller dragon effortlessly passed her face with a last maneuver. She growled.

Triumph quickly became replaced with fear as suddenly the world around them exploded. The pent up gas in the big dragon's body appeared to be igniting all at once – with catastrophic results. Hiccup desperately tried to get his mechanism to work as it was singing on its final verse. He was frantically avoiding the obscenely large explosion that was trying to catch up with them and… _Click, click… click…click, click_… Hiccup had never heard of a watch (and Artemis had actually forgotten his at home; when making plans he would have no distractions, not even the ticking watch and he'd forgotten to strap it on again so he couldn't even be introduced to the concept of a watch), but if he had he would most likely make the assumption that this was a clock… ticking towards the group's untimely demise.

Hiccup actually thought they'd made it. When the last click subsided and the last valley of the dragon's massive scales that seemed to pop-up had been cleared, they'd seemed in the clear. For about two seconds. "No… no… NO!" Hiccup tried to steer clear of the massive club-like tail that slowly came down upon them. It was so cold… the temperature was subzero. And yet the only cold Hiccup felt was from watching his fate coming towards him so slowly.

Was it going to end like this?

But then Toothless pulled out at the last possible second. Hiccup almost felt his rope loosening at the mere passing of the huge tail. How had they avoided the unavoidable? Then Hiccup felt something… or rather he felt something missing! "Artemis!" The rope around his waist was gone. He turned and looked at Artemis holding on for dear life with both hands at the end of the saddle.

It had snapped. That was all Artemis could think about. The rotten rope had snapped. He'd managed to grab onto the edge of the saddle in the last possible moment, but it seemed he had no more power left in his arms to hold on. He let go. But Hiccup grabbed onto his wrist. "Let go…" Artemis mouthed. He had no more strength and this was a good a place as any to die. He knew he would never be returning home. Finding a time crack in this time was as probable as the sun exploding ten billion years early – it was not going to happen. And so Artemis chose death. It would be the fastest way out.

Luckily for Artemis, Hiccup had other thoughts as he realized Artemis' battered clothes had served as a replacement for the broken tailfin. It had been a minimal difference, but it had worked. They'd avoided the tail of destiny, of doom. And now Artemis wanted to die! It didn't make sense. So Hiccup held on.

Toothless tried to land. It must be stressed extra that he really tried. But if he knew anything about falling it was that you still needed to steer when you were falling. And however much Artemis' body could work as a temporary replacement for his lost appendage, he knew Artemis was locked in one position. The one that had helped them survive, but nonetheless the one that hindered Toothless in a proper emergency landing now. The explosion had created a lot of smoke, which they now fell towards…

Stoick desperately searched left and right, high and low. He was the front runner of the entire village now, all on the lookout for Hiccup. Sometimes someone shouted they'd found something. But it wasn't actually anything and they had to keep looking. The first time they'd found a piece of rope. The second time a ripped piece of Artemis' black pants. A sense of dread fell over the village as their search pattern got slower and slower until finally… they'd reached the other side of the explosion site. Stoick fell to his knees. And with a trembling voice he brought himself to say the words that would seal his fate as the worst father ever: "I did this." He could not stand it, knowing that his son had spoken the truth the entire time and he'd never listened. Always ignoring. Always disappointed. Never happy. And he did it in front of everyone – the thing he'd always kept secret but somehow seemed appropriate now – he cursed Odin's name. For being unable to protect his protégé, for being unable to protect the dragon and most of all for taking away Hiccup. Stoick cried.

Astrid was swiftly making her way through stages of denial and anger. Hiccup...gone? Just like that? Was that how it was going to end?

The end? Just like that? No way.

It was Artemis that kept them all alive. Not just by being who he was – a stranger sent to a different time by an unknown element – but also he knew how to survive the time tunnel. It was the exact same experience. An incredibly straight line of a tunnel, no bends, no hiccups, no imperfections. It was still unnatural. Both Toothless and Hiccup had cracked under the mental and magical strain that the time tunnel offered. But Artemis was experienced in this sort of thing and he alone kept their atoms from being shaken to pieces. Or was it him that kept them from doing so?

Because once again there was that feeling… that dreaded feeling that an immensely powerful being was controlling, guiding, directing them to their destination with perfect precision. Artemis prepared for the worst. It wasn't like his belief in reality hadn't been crushed more than enough times during the past two days. And at this thought he couldn't really believe this had happened over a mere two days. Two and a half, he supposed but still. How many things could happen to one person in just 60 hours? He did not know if he'd been close to that limit and that was why he expected the worst.

He could however not have been prepared for the place they'd ended up. All three was shot out of the portal and as it vanished behind them, Artemis found himself in a place that seemed to defy human thought. Above him a mixture of white and grey painted the sky – almost like solidified clouds. And in the horizon, no matter where he turned there seemed to be an orange light – just a line of orange far away, infinitely far away. And finally he noticed that the platform he was standing on was mirroring whatever imperfections the solid clouds had… no… he was actually standing on a thin glass platform just over another "sky". Both under and over him were "the sky" of solid clouds and a thin glass platform kept the two separate. Artemis felt dizzy. Where were they?

EDIT: Spellchecked! It's is fascinating to see where I've gone wrong... and exactly how extremely random some of the worst mistakes sound. See you in a week (unless you beg for me to make my work even faster (yeah, that was totally confident (which am still not quite))). Clocking in at 5900 words now!


	16. Madness

That was a horrible week with a great ending! I've just come back from ten tests in five days, and reading reviews was awesome! Should I brag about the tests that went well or try to earn sympathy from those that didn't? Hmm… so many options :-). I have no idea how I found time to actually relax with all that was going on, but here I am. I can tell you, it's going to be harder to update once every other day… once the word count hits 9000 per chapter. That is a basic guess at how long the thirtieth chapter is going to be! O_O. But I'll try to keep up.

As for your reviews… thanks to all of you for replying to my selfish need for confidence. I like to know my grammar isn't killing the story for you and as for the newest review which had a question, the "green" is meant to be sort of watered down, but that's the color I saw. Maybe I'm colorblind, but I can't for the life me find a consistent webpage describing the huge dragon as just one color. Some call it the Red Death, some the Green Death and… guh, it's actually grey or something. Hopefully that made sense. Special thanks to Daeron Klavik for an incredibly detailed review, wow, man, just wow! I'm sorry I've been so busy and did not even check for reviews before today (Friday), but school from 9 A.M. to 8 P.M. is very rough – especially five days in a row. But now school should slow down again until my exams. Giving me ample time to write… with any luck. And because I can't stop today's random statistic goes to an astounding 1100 hits! With that said… hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though. Oh, and whatever characters I may come up with :-).

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 16: Madness.

One of the curses of having an extremely analytical mind was at the moment showing itself to work against Artemis. Instead of actually doing something – waking his two unconscious friends for instance or even examining his surroundings – Artemis just stood still. And reflected upon how everything had turned out. How could it have gone this far? He was at this moment 48 percent sure he'd lost his mind. This theory was still not entirely winning over the other theory (52 %) in which Artemis was telling himself that he did not understand what he was seeing because he didn't know everything. This was hard to admit and the only reason this theory was stronger than the first was because he deemed himself too intelligent to lose his mind. A common mistake amongst genii but nonetheless Artemis was still positive that madness would be something he could feel creeping up behind him; something that could be acted against if you realized it soon enough.

The second theory also had room for a small extra word that made all the difference. He didn't know everything… yet.

However right now "everything" was a bit too much. First, time travel to distant pasts – a sort of alternate Middle Age. Second, dragons – somehow dinosaurs had evolved into dragons or some distant comet had hit the ground in much the same way human life had been developed; of course basing it upon the theory of evolution. He was giving the theory way too much credit, he knew, it was unscientific, but it was the best he had at the moment. It would be part of the truth at least – it made sense… somehow. And now, third, a world made of absolutely nothing. Nothing seemed to be the dominating species in the place they'd arrived. It was deserted.

No wind whistled over the barren glass. No noise made its way under the desolate sky… skies? Artemis could see it was not a mirror he was standing on and yet the prospect of two skies so close to each other was messing up all his theories at once. At least he could see something. The only thing he felt – because there was no warmth or cold either – was himself being there. He was sure it wasn't a dream. He'd dismissed that as wishful thinking. There was no smell either – it wasn't a smell of neutrality that permeated the air, it was a smell of nothing, an absence of smell. It was like being in a waking coma.

Two out of five senses were still functional. Or as Artemis thought it: _Three fifths of my sources of information has shut down._ This thought was confirmed when he took a step. The sound of his foot hitting the glass never came. The feel of the air hitting his clothes, the feel of walking never emerged. The temperature differences between a stationary object and a moving one also stayed away. He was numb. He tried calling out: "Hello!"

It might have been a cliché to call "hello" into the open space, but Artemis confirmed that he could still hear. It was the world around him that seemed to possess no sound. Maybe it was the same way with all of his senses. Finally he noticed the unconscious pair behind him. Running over to the two he tried to shake the consciousness into Hiccup. Hiccup grunted a little but made otherwise no indication of awareness. He next tried Toothless though the task proved more difficult as the dragon's body was huge when compared to Artemis' arms and it was all Artemis could do to make Toothless' head swing slowly from side to side through continuous effort. Panting Artemis stopped realizing his friends were recovering from the side effects of time travel.

Suddenly Artemis felt scared. What time was this? They'd exited the portal, but where? When? "You know…" A voice from behind Artemis crooned, "They aren't going to wake in half an hour so you could just stop."

Artemis spun around facing the unknown speaker. What awaited his sight however left him speechless. Any thoughts on acquiring information on how the speaker could state something like that so confidently vanished when Artemis turned around… and stared at himself. Nearly anyway.

The opposite Artemis was dressed in a perfectly ironed, perfectly washed and perfectly proportioned black Armani suit. It was Artemis' custom made design. Compared to his destroyed clothes (Artemis felt a twinge of jealousy), this was how it should be. Another small difference was the eye color of the other Artemis. Both of his eyes were blue. As his had been before he'd switched with Holly's eye. Yet he looked to be the same age as Artemis was now. Was this another alternate universe? And was it past, future or… present?

The final difference and by far the most disturbing was the fact that the other Artemis had no aura. It was not a transparent aura – it was the absence of one. Which should mean that the other person was either dead or… had no soul. If a thing such as the soul existed; Artemis had yet to decide that.

Finally, biting his lips before speaking, Artemis found he could say something again: "What do you… How do you know? Who are you?"

The boy in front of him chuckled. It was his own chuckle. The hairs one Artemis' arms rose. This was definitely something else. "To answer your first question would be to give away my weaknesses… and my strengths. As you are well aware, opposites tend to be the same and mine is no different. Therefore as to contain any information I don't want you to know I will choose not to answer your first question. And as for your second question… I have gone under a number of different aliases. Not quite as many as you, but you could call me Alfret Wimos. Or you could call me Ortiam Flews. Do you catch my drift?"

Artemis head reeled. He tried to get his head around what was being presented to him. Soon Alfret spoke again:

"Do you need another hint? Very well, my final clue to your question is my third alias: Simetra L. Wof."

Artemis understood when people spoke down to him. And he did not like that feeling. And analyzing the three names Artemis finally saw the connection. He decided it would be appropriate with the full-on comeback: "Ha ha. Very funny joke, Mr. Artemis Fowl. Rearranging the letters of my name. Or mirroring them. Gave me a challenge for about five seconds."

And as the pleasant (well, not really, but still not _really_ uncomfortable) atmosphere had been settling over their conversation, it immediately broke upon these words. The Artemis-clone changed expressions instantly – from cold and calculating to extreme anger distorting Artemis' features beyond anything he might have seen them in before. "I. Am. NOT! **ARTEMIS**!"

And as suddenly as the outburst had exploded, the other's face returned to calmness and continued: "I am Simetra. And I do apologize for my… outburst."

For a few seconds Artemis was silent. There were some things that were wrong with the reaction Simetra had conjured. For one, the way the expression had changed. It was like taking a picture of a calm Artemis and then taking a picture of an angry Artemis (if one existed) and switching out a picture in a projector. The way the expression had changed in an infinitesimally small amount of time. It was beyond human speed. And another thing would be the fakeness of the apology. It was the opposite that was being threatened with here: If you say that name again I will murder you, it screamed. So Artemis complied… for now.

"Where are we?"

Simetra smiled. A true vampire smile; being on the receiving end of one finally made Artemis realize exactly how frightening it looked. He would have to get rid of that habit; he concluded that that smile had been one of the greater factors he'd never had any friends. Not that he'd want any. _Oh, who am I kidding?_ _No one but myself._ Throwing pride away was still hard for Artemis, but he'd realized how much had come of friendship. As an example, his mother and father would be long gone had he not been friends with a certain fairy. And he also benefitted psychologically from having friends. And… not all of the good things about friendship could be "said" or "thought", they just were.

Finally after a tense five seconds, as if hammering in the fact of the mad smile the other Artemis was wearing really was an exact replica of Artemis' own, he replied: "Do you know what time is?"

"What?"

"Do you know what time is?" Simetra asked again. His face had returned to total neutrality. The ultimate mask and a face which did not seem capable of feeling. Artemis noticed he had not moved a single step since Artemis had discovered him… not even his outburst of anger had made him move his body.

Artemis thought about the question and then carefully answered: "I think Einstein described it as a fourth dimension…"

Simetra interrupted: "Do you know what the superstring theory is based upon?"

Finally something that made sense. And yet the question when seen in context of the conversation it still made no sense. But Artemis decided to humor the… clone. Quickly describing the basics of the theory – how the universe was made up of ten dimensions or more, how the theory could be used to describe things such as black holes or how gravity was such a weak force when compared to others – when Artemis was done, Simetra's face was still ungrounded in any emotion.

He spoke again without actually moving any facial feature: "So close." Then he laughed. He laughed long and hard. But he did it without moving anything other than his mouth. When he regained "composure" he continued as if nothing happened: "No, sorry. It's just how humans think they've got everything mapped out and then when they finally… _finally_," the way he whispered the word seemed to ooze madness, "finally strike gold, they mess up at the last second. It's amazing really."

Artemis could do nothing but stare at this point. Stare and listen. The way he spoke about humans… made him seem as if he wasn't one himself. Artemis laid the questions he had about that to rest. It would most likely provoke another extreme reaction and he didn't want to make the other mad… at least not yet.

Simetra continued: "You see, humans explain these physical phenomena and they are almost right. Except there aren't ten dimensions. There are only four. Of course you know the first three, but can you possibly guess what the fourth dimension is?"

"Time," Artemis replied without a second thought. At least this made sense in context. Still he was waiting for something to happen, anything other than this situation. He was being spoken down to again. But he didn't let his irritation show.

"Correct. Now, the fascinating thing about time is how it's actually built. Simply put, people who think of time as river are moronic brainless zombies who should never have been born. However people who think of time as the end of a string – a string of endless possibilities with fibres for each possibility – have begun to grasp the truth. Now the interesting thing about the theory when describing it this way is that there is one end of a string for each _unit of time_. Do you understand what this means?"

Artemis winced. Madness seemed to be a term of endearment compared to this guy. And the fact that it was… somehow himself was madder still. Perhaps he should reconsider the dream scenario?

"No, you don't. Then I shall explain. If you imagine for a second that time just… stopped. Froze over like it would never start again. What would then happen?" Simetra was almost desperate in trying to make conversation. What was up with all these questions? Artemis tried warily: "Nothing?"

"Exactly! Now, if you moved one _unit of time_ forward, where a unit of time is the smallest amount of time that could exist to talk about time moving, how many possibilities would there be? How many different ways could time move forward between these two time standstills?"

Artemis shrugged. Secretly he wished he knew this was going, but because Simetra wasn't going mad when speaking Artemis continued to pursue the subject. "I would ascertain there is an infinite amount of ways time could move from one point to another."

Simetras eyes lightened up with another mad smile. "YES! Exactly! You're really good at this. Now how many _units of time_ are there in a single second?"

"An infinite amount, I guess."

"Correct. And how many possibilities are there in a single second?"

Artemis sighed. "Another infinity. Infinity doesn't get more infinite, just because you multiply it by an infinite amount."

Simetra grinned. "Then how many possibilities are there in a single _unit of time_?"

Artemis was just about to answer when he noticed the trap. Simetra had pointed out that a _unit of time_ was considered the smallest amount of time passed as would be possible – meaning there would be no such thing as possibilities, more like a complete time stop. But at the same time the normal rules of... time was the same as math. If someone said that a million was the highest number in the world, then you could just add one to that million and you'd have a higher number. Same with time – any amount of time passed could be split in half. And if that was true then there'd have to be an infinity between the two points in time. Finally Artemis answered after giving the matter some thought:

"I would guess there is also an infinite amount of possibilities in a single _unit of time_."

Simetra looked at Artemis ponderingly. Then he continued matter-of-factly without discussing whether or not Artemis' answer was correct: "This is the end of time. One of them. To answer your next question which you have not yet asked: This place is what I wanted it to be. You see, this is a future in which enough things have gone wrong and time has collapsed. However time never just ends. It continues in different directions before things go wrong. The only reason time would destroy itself was if every future led to its destruction. And this is just one future I have destroyed to make it fit with my plans."

The end of time? "Don't look at me like I'm mad, it's rude. And as for the explanation for why I'm doing this… let's just say I have had some time on my hands and I fell back to a habit of mine that needs time and power. And I had both."

"What… habit is that?" Artemis croaked. It couldn't be real. It had to be a dream.

"Experimentation. Simply put, you are experiment number 186540416. Or shortened to number six."

Artemis' mouth was drying up. Experiments? "Why number six?" he asked, moaning as he realized it must have sounded incredibly stupid.

"You're the sixth to have completed the first trial. And you are the first to complete it while bringing something else back with you." Simetra eyed the unconscious figures behind Artemis. He then smirked. He looked like he was having endless fun – but it was only his eyes that betrayed him; he had yet to move a single step and his face was still curled up in an intensely neutral mask.

The sixth? "Who were the others?" Other people suffering like this wouldn't do – not even if this was somehow, or somehow not, him.

"Oh, don't worry. No one else got hurt. Except for you of course. It was you, Artemis. Every second – from the day you met that fairy at age twelve to now – I've taken one of you every single second and brought you through this trial. Six of you have survived till now."

"But why?" He'd taken himself every second? What? How was that even possible?

"Searching for someone who can beat all three trials. You know the rules are so incredibly simple – and yet you people constantly have to make it so complicated." Simetra tried to pout, but failed miserably. It just made him look even crazier. "Why can't you just realize that all you need to do is change the outcome of the original future?"

"Change the outcome of the original future? What are you babbling about?"

"NEVER. I _never_ babble. And as for your first question…" Again with the inhuman reaction changes. Artemis shuddered. "… this is your change." And he conjured up an image in the air. It showed Hiccup and Toothless, but something was different. Soon Artemis saw the glaring difference. Hiccup was missing his leg. Instead a wooden prosthetic had been crudely tied to his knee. It looked uncomfortable – the way Hiccup in the picture was leaning against Toothless, trying to keep his balance. "This was the future you changed. You made it so that future could never happen in that exact way – and that was what made you complete the first trial."

He'd changed the future? Again? Artemis couldn't help but think _been there, done that_. And he thought of Holly again. Would he see her again? Was there any hope?

"Snap out of it Fowl. I've got some facts if you want to hear them." Simetra straightened up and as he did his face completely lost its coldness. It got replaced by a ridiculous face. A face that could not control its emotions. His entire body now followed what he was saying, using hand gestures, but he still didn't move his feet. "Five seconds. The second who completed this trial had been taken in the moment your Butler had shown you his handgun. You then proceeded to change the future immediately by shooting a random villager who saw you appearing. And then you failed the second test miserably – you died." Artemis couldn't help but listen. If he didn't the other might freak out on him or something similar.

"The third, the fourth and the fifth all killed Hiccup to change the future. You know… that is another way to do it! And do it quickly I might add. Two days… where were you, huh? Well, as for the first – well, he was special. He went to the dragon's Island after spending five years in the village and he took down the Nest singlehandedly. In case you're wondering – you were just 13 years old at that point. I took you just before you got confirmation on whether your father was still alive. I think that gave you an extra drive… one that even took you to the third trial, where you unfortunately crumbled. But it was… inspiring…" Simetra stared into the air with a dreamy expression on his face as if that experiment had been exceptionally successful.

Then he became more serious, a glimmer showed itself behind his eyes: "And now that we're talking family – did you enjoy your gift?"

Artemis had just about gotten used to the weird, out-of-nowhere questions. That didn't mean he knew the answer to all of them: "What gift?"

"Don't be silly. I always hand out help if my subject needs it… though it usually comes with a cost, a punishment. Well, enough about that for now, did you enjoy it?"

Artemis began feeling irked. "What gift?"

"Can't you guess? Something that has to do with what has happened in the last two days, something that should never have happened, something impossible, something that involves time, something that made you feel relieved and something that saved your life. Can't you guess?" Simetra turned his head at an angle as if to challenge him.

Pieces of the puzzle… coming together. "You. You've invented some sort of time travelling device. You're the reason… the reason the warlocks' spell worked even though they had nowhere near enough energy! You… almost destroyed me, you bastard!" The very mixed reaction from Simetra surprised him.

"DO YOU THINK… _INVENTED_…DEVICE!" The rage from Simetra was uncensored, but at the same time he seemed happy. Soon he calmed down and his reason for happiness became clear: "Glad you liked the gift though. But we're going to have to discuss that punishment."

Artemis could feel a red-hot iron poker melting his stomach. It might be that anger was entirely useless, usually made everything worse, was completely unscientific, pushed other people away and more, but in this very moment Artemis didn't care. He was furious. At least Simetra was just as furious as he returned to his original anger.

"You actually believed I've invented a time machine!" Sighing, he continued: "I was apparently wrong. It looks like you are just as stupid as the others. For your information, I can tell you that I didn't invent a time machine or anything like that. Simply put I don't need it… can you guess why?" As the sentence progressed, Simetra calmed more and more until he was left with just a goofy expression. Why was he acting like this?

"You…" Artemis was still very angry. But his intellect was rapidly soothing him, cooling him down and soon the answer came to him. But could it be the truth? "You… control time by yourself?"

Simetra vanished. "I do." The voice came from behind Artemis. He spun around… only to be greeted by the unconscious figures of his friends. Simetra wasn't anywhere in sight. "Do you know what memory is, Artemis?"

Artemis froze. Simetra was standing directly behind him, whispering into his ear yet another question. "The recollection of past events?"

"Do you then know what an eidetic memory is?" You could practically hear the sneer and the grin that was probably showing in Simetra's face right now – but Artemis was determined not to be called stupid again. "Of course. It is another word for photographic memory. It means you can remember incredible details that none other can – especially if it's a situation that routine does not describe for you."

"Textbook answer, Artemis. Do you know what an absolute memory is?"

"It's a memory that can recall everything that has ever happened to it. It's a myth. No one can, no one have ever had and no one will ever have such a memory." Artemis turned around. Simetra was standing again in the same spot he stood in when they first met. It still appeared as if he hadn't moved. "Why are you asking me this?"

Simetra smiled again. "Because it helps you understand. Do you know what a complete absolute memory is? No, I can see you don't because the term has yet to be invented in your time. To be blunt, it's a memory that can remember all things, at all times, at all places, seen from every perspective. Only I have such a power. Only I can remember all of these things at once – except one single thing." As he spoke he drew up pictures of Artemis in much the same way he'd called upon a picture of Hiccup's supposed future – Artemis saw himself crying on a boat, he saw himself in a dark cell and now on Toothless with a frightened expression – but when Simetra reached the end, his expression darkened.

"Your first question was how I knew these things. I know because I control time. It is my greatest strength and my biggest weakness at the same time. Because I can always see everything that I can't remember by myself, I at all times know everything. Except… the one thing I don't know. And now that I know everything else it is driving me crazy. I don't… know what infinity is." Artemis' mask raised an eyebrow. Inside he was in turmoil however. To control time to such a degree would be im…no apparently it was possible.

"You could call that my first motive. I want to find infinity and spit it in its face – and make it out alive. You see Artemis, one of my futures tried once to look at time as a whole. As you know that is looking at infinity. But after just a single _unit of time_ my other future's self exploded – there was too much information, too much for even me to process. I've tried to… find others who might be strong enough to achieve what I didn't, but… none has completed all three trials. And only one has completed the second trial to date as you know."

Artemis felt a lot of things towards Simetra right now, a bit of fear, anger and confusingly a bit of compassion even, but the strongest feeling was the feeling of wanting to punch the bastard. He'd apparently sacrificed a hundred million of Artemis (seeing as he was number 186 million or something), but he had not gotten a single step closer to attaining the knowledge he wanted. And that was so pathetic Artemis wanted to tell him to snap out of it… and punch him while they were at it. Maybe he'd gotten that trait from Holly; it wasn't as if he hadn't himself been on the receiving end of a lot of her "punches" of random anti-anger management.

"But I'm getting ahead of myself here. You still have three questions left."

This was the closest Artemis had ever gotten to saying the word "huh", as if he'd gotten brain damage, but he stopped himself just in time. He had to keep up with the other. Still, what the hell did he mean by that? "You say there are three trials?"

Simetra nodded. "Yes. What about it?"

"Well, I was wondering what the criteria is for each of them. Is the objective to change the future in all three trials or does the objective change with each trial? What are you going to do now? And you said that I could call your… confession your first motive. Then what is the second motive?"

"Oops. That is your twenty-first question so I can't answer that. However, yes the trials all have the same objective: Change the original future. It doesn't matter how small, as long as it means the original future doesn't happen. And as for what I'm going to do now… I think I'll issue your punishment. Unless you can pass a test, of course."

"Is this all some sort game to you? Playing twenty questions?" Now that Artemis realized it, this must have been the reason Simetra had constantly mixed up the conversation; to make Artemis ask more unrelated, unimportant questions! Had it all been psychology? "Toying with my life? Testing me to see if I could survive looking at infinity?" Artemis asked angrily, the irony still not lost on him… he was getting angry at himself. Or was it himself?

"Now now, Artemis no more questions. All you have to do is say out loud three true statements to me. If you can do that I will forget about your punishment." Simetra smiled innocently at him.

"Truth? Why?"

"Artemis I think I told you, no more questions. But seeing as I don't think it'll make much of a difference… let's just say it is one of your greatest assets."

"What? _Truth_ is one of my greatest assets?"

"You're pushing it with your questions, Arty," Artemis winced at hearing his own voice call him his pet-name, "but I suppose I will have to confirm your statement. Yes, one of your greatest assets is truth. Everything you do, gathering knowledge, thinking up plans, trying to understand all around you, is at its core a search for truth. The truth of the world. You got it? Now, back to the game: Three absolutely true statements, Artemis. You have fifteen seconds."

Suddenly all questions about his own "truth" and whatnot died in his brain. He was not ready to bout with Simetra – he'd need more information for that – and he definitely didn't want a punishment just now. Nor would he like to know what was involved with a "punishment". He quickly said: "All mortal men must die."

Simetra blankly stared at him. Artemis took this as a sign to continue. "Time is the fourth dimension."

Simetra's eyes smiled for a few seconds before returning to "processing mode" (the name Artemis had given the mask of total neutrality). Artemis then considered. He had eight seconds to make up a third statement. What would definitely be true? Then he realized; he might have just had the keys handed to him by Simetra: "One of my greatest assets is truth."

"Very well, I shall issue the punishment." Simetra took a step towards Artemis, but Artemis backed away getting closer to his two friends' still unconscious bodies. "Wait a second, all those statements were true!"

"No. Your first statement 'All mortal men must die' is not necessarily true. If the mortal is turned into an immortal then though he was mortal he will not die. Also if time destroys itself it would mean that whatever mortal man was still alive wouldn't die, but would live endlessly in that final second. Your second "truth" has the problem of being subjective. Though I agree with you that it makes sense that time is the fourth dimension, others have a different order. Therefore it is not an absolute truth. Your final statement was true however. But you needed to get three out of three and you only got one so… I've got to issue your punishment and send you to your next trial. Can't have us talking all day, you know."

Artemis stepped another step backwards and suddenly everything became dark… but he didn't pass out. It was the entire surrounding area that had become dark.

"Ha, ha, just kidding!" Light returned to the world. Simetra was grinning at him. "You need to know something else before I let you go. First of all, thank you." Artemis blinked his eyes. What?

"I want to thank you for bringing a new dimension to my punishments. You know, it does get quite boring issuing the same punishments all the time. Something like… taking your magic away or taking your ability to speak away or removing a few million billion brain cells – those kinds of things get boring after a while, eh. But with three persons to work with… I think I've got the perfect idea. I've always wanted to test this kind of thing. Well, enough about that." Artemis looked like a catfish at the moment. His jaw did not seem to want to close and his mouth was twitching.

"Second, I'll give you a piece of advice. Make use of it or don't, I don't care. Just don't blurt it out to anyone. Here goes," Simetra cleared his throat. He then looked like he got another idea. He crept over to Artemis who was too stunned to move back. Simetra stopped when they were eye-to-eye. He then began to whisper: "Time is fickle being. It is extremely unpredictable, extremely unreliable and it will bite you a certain place before it bows to you. It loathes whoever tries to tamper with it. If you begin playing around with time, you should be prepared for absolutely anything. Got it?"

And then, as if someone flicked a switch, Artemis passed out.

(Someplace completely different)

Ten minutes had passed. And yet the occupants of the room were still reluctant to leave… Not wanting to move on. He would return somehow. Of that Butler was sure. And as the first he began walking to the door. If Artemis returned, he could do it at his own leisure. There was nothing more to do. They'd been left behind. _The new generation is moving too fast_. It was times like these Butler felt old – even older than what he actually was, though he looked like someone younger than what he actually had left in him and… once again Artemis had taken it upon his shoulders to do something as the only one capable. Butler sighed.

Reaching for the door handle, he now knew how Artemis must have felt closing down the internet webpage he'd had open since his father had disappeared. Artemis meant as much to Butler as Mr. Fowl Sr. did to Artemis. And yet Butler didn't feel like he was giving up – no, he was putting his faith in Artemis. By not worrying about him Artemis would have his hands free to do whatever he wanted – he had said his goodbyes and he'd made his promises and now they just had to wait. Butler had waited for three years. Surely another three would be a small price to pay. He'd even give six if that meant he knew Artemis was coming back. He tried to sink the painful lump in his throat, but it didn't seem to budge. He opened the door and took a step – away from Artemis, away from the group who were still in denial.

And he happened to walk directly into Artemis.

It was a life changing experience. And the first thought that passed through Butler was something as simple as _I should have opened that door earlier_. He picked up Artemis in his massive bearlike arms and gave the shocked teen a bone grinding hug. "Artemis! You're back!"

At this statement, a small bomb went off inside the room Butler had come from. It was almost comical the way the heads turned in the direction of the sound and the way the eyes sparkled looking like someone had just said: "Here doggy! Fetch!" While Qwan managed to preserve his dignity by only appearing surprised, both Holly and No 1 reacted in the only way possible. By throwing themselves towards the doorway as if a bomb was about to go off in the room they were currently in.

Foaly actually had time to fire off a comment: "Hey, be careful with the tech…" A straggling tail hit the table's leg and Foaly's laptop jumped off the table, heading for the impending doom of the floor. Luckily Qwan had quick reflexes – who said that you could not be a 10000 year-old sportsman – and he managed to grab the laptop before it hit the ground. However he also managed to hit the power button which stopped Foaly's lecture immediately. Meanwhile the two remaining fairies had reached the doorway.

A strangled voice made its way out of Artemis body: "Being… strangled… please…"

Butler let go immediately. Realizing professionalism was a surefire way to embarrass himself even further in present company, he decided he would take the day off as Artemis' bodyguard. Artemis needed friends now, not bodyguards. After a few seconds of silence, when Artemis got his breath back, Butler asked the question they were all dreading: "What happened, Artemis?"

The bodyguard could see Artemis' ripped suit, he could certainly smell him (no further comment on that), but in the silence he also realized something was off. Something was wrong. Holly noticed first as she tried to find his shy eyes. "Artemis your eyes, what happened to your eyes?" she exclaimed.

The boy sighed. This would take some explaining.

Meheh. Not telling what happened…yet. Meheh. If anybody can guess what'll happen, serious props to that person. As for moving into uncharted territory now, wish me luck. I think I've read too much Yu-Gi-Oh as for the penalty games and "simple rules" and whatnot. Meheh. Word count: 6400!


	17. Punishment

"Write an essay from the notes you write when you think about why you should write an essay explaining how to write an essay." Have you ever heard something as silly as this assignment our English teacher came up with? Nope, didn't think so. And we have to write that during this weekend. I think I'll skip that, thank you. In our school you can be behind by two assignments and seeing as I have only missed one as of now I think I can spend some time writing this instead. Or maybe I'll write it right now, after this. Oh, and I got an A in Math (usual business) and Physics (Yes! That rules!) and nearly flunked French (it is damn hard that language!). The rest of the results are still unknown… our teachers have pretty different values. Some are so lazy they show up with the results two weeks later, while some bring them the day after the test! And usually it's the youngest who are the laziest while the eldest teachers are extremely fast. Hmm… Today's random statistic: 1200 hits! 100 hits in just two days is pretty awesome :-).

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 17: Punishment.

Artemis slowly opened his eyes. A nice painful headache greeted him, along with an ocean of light leaving him momentarily blinded. When his eyes got used to the light he tried to stand up. He found it impossible. He tried lifting his head from the ground and was met with the sight of two well polished black shoes. Artemis groaned. Memories began returning to him… something about different punishments… and now Simetra was standing over him?

"So, coming back to the world of the…" Simetra sounded muffled. Artemis tried to shake the dizziness away. Simetra then proceeded to grab Artemis' collar and lift him to his feet. "I considered taking away your ability to walk. A simple matter… finding a future in which Artemis Fowl had no capability of walking and fusing it with your own timeline… but I decided against it. Too boring. Other things I thought of was your hearing, your sight or your intellect. But I've already tried those and… the results were less than stellar."

Artemis found he could now suddenly stand up on his own. He tried to remember why he had been scared of not being able to walk and coupled it with Simetra showing him how Hiccup would have ended up in his future. Perhaps that memory had temporarily lodged itself in his brain, having enough staying power to actually make him believe his punishment had been the loss of the ability to walk. Or perhaps the return of his ability to feel warmth or cold as well as hear, smell and feel the world around him had surprised him. Either way now that he was standing he realized they were no longer at the end of time. They were in Artemis' study. This change of scenery was enough to silence Artemis as Simetra continued:

"No, you haven't even seen your punishment yet, relax. I just thought it… sensible… to further describe exactly what is expected of you. As you are well aware, I'm not testing the other two… if you decided to use them as a means to complete my first trial, I wasn't going to stop you. But because you shamelessly brought them along to second trial as well I've had to make a decision. And I've decided to make an exception. So now I got to include all three of you in your punishment." Simetra smiled mildly.

"I think you already know that my act of madness was just to throw you off guard. I am you, Artemis, and yet I'm not. I am everywhere and nowhere, thanks to my control over time. I know you noticed my facial expressions changing and in case you haven't figured it out yet let me explain: I knew that to keep you on your toes I had to do something… beyond! So I looked upon every possibility how our conversation could play out and then decided upon the one which you have just experienced. I decided it would unnerve you if I used my some of my other me's to change expression so radically." Simetras smile grew wider. "And it worked. You only got off one question which was irritating for me to answer. But it was a question you asked in every future so I decided to humor you. Wow, gloating is so much fun, Arty, you should try it sometime!"

After that massive monologue and the final statement Artemis thought his headache was about to get worse. But incredibly as he focused on it, he found it was on the retreat. Simetra seemed to like the sound of his own voice because he continued:

"You wanted to ask for my motives, but I never let you ask that question and in the end I explained to you how I needed to know what infinity was to satisfy your need for knowledge. It made it easier for you to accept your loss. Hmm… what else did I want to say… oh, yes, as the final thing I need to explain… your punishment only lasts twenty-four hours. It will start from the moment the first one of you wakes up… and end after twenty-four hours."

Artemis tried to focus on Simetra, but he was blurring. What was happening? Then Artemis caught on with the subtle implication. "Until one of us wake up?" Artemis looked around his study. None of the items in the room seemed to hold any substance. The computers were blurry. The chairs were formless and without design. The tapestry was constantly changing. And yet… Artemis hadn't noticed until it was pointed out. Was this… a dream?

"Of course you're dreaming! I remembered that I made you pass out too early and I had to pull on some contacts to make you hear this message... not really. I don't really know anyone other than myself!" Another smile. "It was incredibly simple to just make your brain accept this information. Letting your imagination do all my dirty work. Do you understand, Arty? I'm just a figment of your imagination. You're dreaming!" Artemis had understood. And this time he was the one who smiled. He had understood what this meant.

"I would like if you decided to wake up soon, but…" Simetra's words died in his throat. Artemis had just pulled out a huge katana from seemingly nowhere. "You can't hurt me. You're dreaming, Artemis!"

"That certainly doesn't mean I'm going to put up with being insulted. Or pushed to becoming angry. Or being toyed with. Or being punished by some… bloody test that you seem to make up as you go along! I just want to hear you scream… and seeing as it's my dream, I seem to be capable of doing just that." It might be stupid to do in the real world – and Artemis certainly wouldn't even consider it in the real world – but he needed to let off some steam. Was he melodramatic? He didn't care. He needed to regain control. And now it was Artemis' smile that grew wider as he approached Simetra, raising his sword. Artemis wasn't used to holding a weapon and yet he knew Simetra would not move, could not move, and that he would not drop his sword because he couldn't hold on to it. His dream, his rules, therefore his sword was glued to his hands. However just as Artemis was about to strike, a massive dragon crashed into Fowl Manor with a huge explosion engulfing everybody in the manor. And the dream changed while Artemis blissfully slept on, the dream becoming a far away memory.

Meanwhile Hiccup was waking up. It was a weird feeling – waking up not knowing where you are for the first few seconds – but Hiccup was used to it: He'd been knocked out before. But this time was especially weird. He felt ghost pains in his left leg… like something that happened a long time ago was affecting him. Or something that had almost happened was affecting him; as if he'd expected that pain, but it had stayed away. But even weirder was the fact that he still didn't recognize the place he'd been deposited. He usually did that within a few seconds – he'd woken up in quite a few places – but this place wasn't somewhere Hiccup had woken up before. That was when he noticed he was on the floor.

Hiccup slowly got up. Memories flashed past him… they were falling down on the back of Toothless… colors all around… and something pressing on the walls of his skull… and then darkness… until now. Hiccup groaned. Where…? He looked around and saw Toothless lying face down on the floor (a very uncomfortable position for a dragon, he knew). But he couldn't find Artemis anywhere. He was standing in a medium sized room – about the size of one of the smaller houses in Berk. But that was the end of normalcy.

On three desks along one edge of the room were three framed black glass windows positioned one next to the other. Black slaps of a weird material lay in front of the windows – with all kinds of symbols written all over. Small pipes were all over; connected to the windows, the slaps and the wall even. A chair padded with a soft looking material was in front of each of these screens as if you'd want to sit down and look into the black windows. On the other side of the room was a massive bookcase. And finally the architecture was strangely… cubic. There was nothing indicating that a slanted roof was on top of this room. The room did not seem to be built of wooden laths, nor did it seem to be tied together with knots. Instead it looked as if someone had dug out a tree and then made a room inside it; that was the closest description Hiccup could give of the room. Either that or the house wasn't made of wood – which would be ridiculous. No one would have enough time to build a stone house with dragon raids around. And the excessive luxury of the chairs (who had ever heard of someone padding their chairs with anything but leather. This seemed to be fabric of some kind). Everything looked so… extraordinary.

Hiccup quickly moved to Toothless' body. Checking that the dragon was only sleeping he was quickly calmed. He then tried to wake the dragon. He'd found that the smell of fish usually worked, but looking around there was no kitchen, no storage for food of any kind in the room. Luckily, it seemed as if Hiccup's mere presence was enough to make the dragon return to consciousness.

Meanwhile, Artemis was beginning to wake up as well. A distant dream seemed to intrude on his mind – he remembered it unusually well; something about the punishment and Simetra… and a katana (?) – but something else caught his attention. Actually everything caught his attention. He was unusually sharp. He was completely awake before he'd even opened his eyes and in the time it took him to open them, he'd already reflected on his failed attempt at making time pass when he'd spoken with Simetra. He'd already thought of three different ways of fooling Simetra into giving away too much information – he would usually only have time for two, but everything was so clear; it was like going from a deep sleep directly into an energy rush. The feeling died, however, as he opened his eyes. Something was very much wrong.

Hiccup was staring into a blue eye. And a hazel eye. The two eyes, which were staring into his green eyes, looked to be experiencing the same incredible feeling of dread he seemed to be feeling at that moment. In the end it was Hiccup who started to desperately deny what was going on: "Toothless? Buddy, are you… ok?" That was when it hit him; his voice was different. He was wearing… Artemis clothes. _What… the…?_

Artemis did not feel much different than Hiccup, though he noticed an exceptional amount of things – far more than he'd ever noticed. He could practically smell the fear protruding from Artemis' body which currently resided Hiccup. It was most certainly Hiccup; though both he and Toothless had green eyes, only Hiccup would try to call him "buddy". He could see every movement the other made, analyze it and react to what his body… err, Hiccup was doing. And now the boy was this close to a mental breakdown. Artemis himself had somehow come to terms with the situation – Simetras punishment – and now he had to calm down Hiccup. He was even imagining Simetras gleeful face right now… which was weird as it was his own face. He got up and lifted himself off the ground, trying to get up on two feet… only to immediately make a small pirouette and crash onto the ground again.

Hiccup was completely stiff. Now that… the dragon (Toothless? …Artemis?) had moved he saw his own body lying unconscious on the ground. His body had been lying halfway underneath… Toothless – _It's Toothless… right?_ – and being hidden by the dragon's body. Now it seemed the loud noise had awakened his body. It sat up.

Waking up had felt better, Toothless had to admit. Not only did it feel like waking up and breathing mud, his brain had a period of about five seconds where sleep desperately tried to bring him back. Never before had Toothless used such an extended period of time just getting up to speed. He'd even woken up on his back and expected horrible wing pains to welcome him back to consciousness… but they stayed away. Finally his vision returned. He was staring at an absolutely horrified Artemis. He was just about to ask what was wrong – he knew Artemis would understand him – but then he noticed the black mass lying off to the right. Artemis' green eyes. It took a few seconds to connect the dots. And then he looked down at himself. And regretted doing so in the first place.

Artemis rolled around, trying to control his limbs, but this proved harder than expected because his… his wings hung from his body and tried to tie him up, while his tail made wild spasms of fear. He decided to give up on moving and asked to no one in particular: "Is… is this real?"

Hiccup was trying his best not to hyperventilate. Toothless (it was him… _right_?) was rolling on the floor and his own body was frozen in the same fearful posture as his currently wore. Then someone spoke. It took a few seconds before Hiccup realized it had been Toothless. Or… was it? Hiccup's body then responded to the question with a single word: "Uhforualy." Hiccup was a bit taken aback by this sudden mumble, but he interpreted the word as "unfortunately." If whoever tried to say "unfortunately" had little to no control over a tongue.

After some nudging around, Artemis could finally see the other two. He then looked at his own body, took a deep breath and asked: "Hiccup?" He feared the answer, though his brain, which was still working on hyperspeed, kept telling him that he was Hiccup. But he didn't trust his brain right now. His brain was telling him he now weighed a lot more than he usually did, his brain was telling him he had wings and a tail (!), his brain was telling him there was no waking up from this nightmare… which was why Artemis didn't trust his brain right now. It was too unreal. But if Hiccup answered the question, he'd have to accept it. And he feared that.

"Y-… Yes…?" Hiccup was stammering. He could not control his own voice – Artemis voice – and he did not care. Something that should not happen, something so unnatural that Hiccup could not comprehend it, was happening and it was taking everything Hiccup had in him not to freak out. While he was used to a lot of things happening to him, some more unexpected than others, this was on a whole different level. This was something that would either cost him his life, his sanity or give him nightmares for the rest of his life. Trying to calm down a little – he was speaking dragonese and understanding it in return? That was pretty cool – he asked back: "A-… Artemis?"

Sinking before answering, Artemis confirmed with a nod and a "Yes." He then turned to Hiccup…'s body and asked again: "Toothless?"

Artemis' question was expected, but nonetheless frightening. It was frightening that he could _hear_ that he wasn't supposed to pick up the subtle differences of the draconic language (he even found he had trouble on whether or not Artemis was asking about his name or if he had made a peace offering), but he prided himself in his ability to speak most of the dialects and he was confident he would be able to understand Artemis. On the other hand he now understood why Hiccup hadn't been able to learn his own language. Another creepy thing about the question was that if he answered he was confirming that something crazy had happened. Toothless tried to move, as if to reassure himself it was him that was moving this body that was so different from his own, and then looked back at Artemis.

"Yes, that's me," he tried to say. Or as it came out: "Yeh, 'at me." How the hell were you supposed to say anything with teeth in your mouth? They were completely in the way! He tried again: "Yeeee, I am… Oohlehh." Guh, frustrating! He had to actually move his tongue in a completely precise movement, one that definitely wasn't in the normal dragon repertoire, just to say a stupid t. He looked at Hiccup with a look that said "help me a bit here!" Usually this would be enough but Hiccup just looked back sheepishly not understanding the meaning of the look. The bond between them was gone.

But Artemis had gotten the confirmation. Unlike Toothless he'd immediately realized how he was supposed to use his instincts to speak (they were quite a drive, sort of like an autopilot), but he was still impressed with the complexities of the language he was speaking, now that it didn't come from magic. Hiccup was easy to understand though – apparently he'd taken over his magic which included unconscious translation. Toothless seemed to speak Norse. But Artemis had studied history in much the same way he'd tried to understand everything else. He didn't trust anyone but himself to judge how the world was supposed to be, so he had searched for information everywhere until he could safely define the world in his own definition. A definition that had failed him quite recently, but one which had nonetheless made him able to feel confident in his analytical skills. Combining the historical knowledge of the language with the fact that he'd spoken almost nonstop Norse for the past two or three days and Artemis felt he could confidently understand what Toothless was saying. That was at least a good thing in this mess; they all understood each other now… or could communicate with each other as they'd already understood each other. Words and intonation were after all only 45 % of a language, the remaining 55 % coming from body language.

Continuing slowly, as to not provoke any unwanted reactions, Artemis said: "Ok… we are… we've somehow switched bodies, possessing the capabilities of the person we've inherited. We've been deposited in my study, in my time. And I think… this is all my fault." Artemis breathing became more erratic as he feared the reaction from the other two, but when it stayed away – for now – Artemis proceeded to explain what Simetra had said. He left out the advice, Hiccup's supposed future and the fact that he was not the first Artemis being tested. But he did say that Simetra had targeted him specifically and that this in turn had brought the other two into the confusion. Maybe he expected, even wanted to be rejected by one of the others… after all it was him who had answered wrongly and without thinking. Guilt haunting him was a feeling he was used to and anger directed at him was even more familiar. But the other two did not seem to hate him.

Hiccup was breathless at what had happened. They were now in Artemis' time? And… they'd switched… bodies because of a punishment – as a result of Artemis not winning some game? And now he looked like he was expecting a scolding, a rejection, and Hiccup… knew he could not give one. He'd probably have reacted less favorably than Artemis had he been in the same situation and at least Artemis had managed to get some interesting facts from Simetra. A door slammed somewhere outside of the room, but Hiccup took no notice.

Toothless felt much the same way as Hiccup. As much as he'd wanted to murder the person who had done this… Artemis wasn't to blame. Simetra was… whether or not he was in fact Artemis' clone. The story was a bit unbelievable… scratch that, completely unbelievable, but Artemis had no reason to lie. And they couldn't deny that the situation itself was completely ridiculous. Artemis' story made sense in the fact that it didn't make sense. Toothless liked that Artemis thought of him as a person, which also soothed his anger and his pride. Though he'd now have to train himself up again. Gods, humans had access to almost no senses. Sense of smell, forget it and give up. Sense of sight, nearly as bad. Sense of hearing, not too bad, but still. Sense of feeling, pretty impressive, something to work with. Sense of taste, Toothless didn't know. Yet. He would find some fish later on and try it out. He decided it would be best if Hiccup answered Artemis, as he would probably just embarrass himself even further. Though with the way he looked now – no offense to Hiccup of course – he didn't think things could get worse.

Hiccup finally answered: "Artemis… I'm not blaming you and I'm sure Toothless doesn't either. You've got to move on. In much the same way as you said to me 'You've got the home advantage'. _You_ know how to get us out of here. So… get up and look forward."

Artemis blinked. Hiccup was right, of course. They would need information about when they were exactly, but it looked like they were in his time. He was going to check the computer, but again his extra limbs tried their best at keeping him from moving. He would have to control those first. Closing his eyes he tried to find something that felt like his wings. His wings – that statement was still so wrong! But he was going to have to accept it if they were going to get anywhere. Finally he found… something. It was like finding you had a second pair of arms. The unnatural feeling went through Artemis like an electric shock. He found that controlling his wings to lay flat against his back was like… trying to look at your arm through four mirrors and trying to move it in the correct direction. It felt like he was inverting everything he'd ever known, his brain definitely getting a challenge worthy its new speed, but after a two-minute struggle – which especially Toothless found interesting – he finally managed to put his wings in the proper position. His tail still had a mind of its own, but he could worry about that later.

Seeing Artemis attempts Toothless got an urge to try out his body as well. Trying to stand as Hiccup usually did, he got up onto two feet. But with no tail to help him balance and no wings to counterweight him, he got up leaning too much to the front and fell forward again. Hissing a curse he tried to get up again. This time he managed to stand up for about two seconds before losing his balance and falling sideways. Pain shot through him. Dammit! Humans were also 'blessed' with a weak bone structure. Toothless grumbled. But then Hiccup came over and helped him up. Toothless appreciated the help. Though Hiccup was still trying to overcome the thought that he was helping himself, who was not himself, to his feet Toothless had accepted their fate. Besides, if Simetra could make the switch one way why wouldn't it be able to go two ways?

Artemis moved carefully, as to not disturb the delicate balance his wings were in right now, towards the computers. He walked on all fours. It wasn't the most dignified way of walking, but Artemis didn't possess the correct joints to walk on two legs. Getting over to the nearest computer Artemis crawled up to the keyboard. This was when it hit him. How was he going to do any precision work with a huge paw? He tried pressing the keyboard with a claw, after another experimentation period of how to extend your claws, but found that even his claw was too big to press the small buttons. So now it was Artemis who hissed a curse.

Meanwhile Toothless had finally found his balance with the help of Hiccup. Retracting his opinion on human bone structure he realized exactly how nimble they could be. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad as long as he trained. Moving over to Artemis just as he cursed made him jump back and almost lose his balance but using his arms as Hiccup had showed him he found that he could avoid falling. After regaining his balance, and allowing himself a smug smile, he made his way over to Artemis: "Wha' iss wrong?" It almost sounded right, but he still had problems with the letters s and t. This would be the time it came in handy to be a quick learner. Toothless hoped he could grasp the articulation correctly within a few more failures. Hiccup joined the group.

Artemis answered: "I… cannot use the computer! I am unable to hit the buttons. I just… can't." Artemis showed what he meant. He sounded so defeated and Hiccup decided to step around him to see what Artemis was talking about. He now saw that the black slaps with symbols he'd seen earlier was in fact riddled with buttons upon which said symbols were on. He recognized the alphabet and the numbers from 0 to 9 but other buttons also had weird symbols. The recognition of his own letters was calming Hiccup however. At least… there were still pieces of his home in Artemis time. Now he understood why Artemis had reacted so darkly sometimes. Being lost was never fun… but being lost in time meant that it was possible you never found your way home! He asked Artemis to think of something else: "So… those buttons mean something?"

"Well, they're in English, but you should be able to understand them." If it had been possible Artemis would have bit his lip, but he had no teeth, and had not yet tried to extend them, and it most likely wouldn't be possible for a dragon to bite his lip. Artemis settled with a puzzled expression. How was he going to explain what a computer was to someone who didn't even know what electricity was? "Well, to try and explain… this," Artemis used a claw to point at the screen, "is a computer. It gives you information when you ask it. But you need to write your question on this," Artemis used the same claw to point at the keyboard. "And I can't write anything while I'm… you know."

Hiccup understood, though he didn't understand the concept of the 'computer' (that sounded like a weird thing to call it, but Hiccup wasn't picky if it could give them the information Artemis needed to find out where and when they were). "I'm not going to say I understand this thing, but I can write what you want me to. So what should I do?"

Artemis smiled. This came across as the typical toothless smile and for just two seconds Hiccup could feel his hopes going up. However weird this would be, they were good at working together, and if they could keep it up, things would go their way. He even felt confident enough to try joking: "So, Artemis, you said something about me bringing luck to your plans. Do you think that still counts?"

Artemis smile died. "Perhaps. We can hope that we're not trying to change an impossibly hard future and that this punishment won't last forever…" The mood sobered a bit before Hiccup took Artemis' place in front of the computer.

Hiccup looked into the black window, the 'computer'. He half expected the window to explode and half expected the window beginning to talk – his imagination was running wild – until Artemis nudged him, pointed to a button on the window and asked him to press it. Hiccup did as asked. And the window exploded. At least Hiccup thought so until he realized it had just gone from being black to lighting up. Toothless burst out laughing at Hiccup's reaction – with his voice which somehow made things worse. Artemis face wasn't used to blushing, but right now it looked like a tomato. Suddenly a sound outside the door interrupted the laugh. Someone was on the way!

Artemis quickly hissed: "What should I do?"

"Hide. Both of you," Hiccup said. He was looking and sounding like Artemis. Perhaps he could fool whoever was coming into leaving.

Toothless scrambled underneath a desk, but Artemis had frozen. Where was he supposed to hide? Toothless asked in a whisper: "Artemis what are you doing?" As the steps neared Toothless nearly shouted: "Ceiling!" Artemis looked up, questioned whether he could do it, got confirmation from his body that he could and did it.

The door opened. Hiccup tried to look casual as the door swung away revealing… Artemis! All casualness vanished from Hiccup's posture. It was definitely Artemis, but he looked younger. It took the young Artemis Fowl about two seconds to realize a stranger was in his study. "Hmm, I thought there was some noise coming from this room. And who might you be?"

Hiccup sank. It was time for the make-or-break. He saw Artemis scrambling along the rafters using his claws to keep himself in place, he could see the way the desk Toothless had hidden under had been slightly moved during his attempt at hiding. The young Artemis would just have to look around the room and he'd see them. But he could not show he was nervous. Was Artemis just as good at reading people when he'd been younger? "I'm you. From the future," Hiccup said finally.

This sentence was actually enough to make the young Artemis lose his cool for a few seconds. That was definitely not what you expected when meeting a stranger and it definitely wasn't a statement you'd ever expect to hear. But the young Fowl was naturally suspicious. While he could see the likeness – except for the clothes… and the smell – it was still possible that a team of plastic surgeons had gotten together with the Russian mafia in an attempt to relieve him of the rest of his money. So the young Artemis simply said: "Prove it."

"I need to know how old you… we… I am in this time, because I can't remember when I am right now."

Artemis, who was currently hanging from the ceiling (he would have to get the damages repaired later), was actually impressed with Hiccup keeping his cool. This was a sensible thing to ask.

Young Artemis was thinking along the same lines. He supposed he could give up that piece of information. "I am ten," he replied and looked expectantly at his supposed future self. Wow, he'd really let himself go, hadn't he? If it was him anyway. Maybe…

Hiccup inwardly cursed. Artemis hadn't talked much of his childhood, only that his mother had gone mad somewhere around the age of ten. At the same time his father had been kidnapped by the Russians. But had this happened yet? Suddenly, Hiccup saw a way of changing the future. If they were before Artemis' father had left then they could change that future! Even if his father already had been kidnapped Artemis had said he didn't know whether or not his father had been kidnapped or anything. Which meant that Hiccup knew something that only Artemis from the future would know and thereby convincing him that he was who he said he was. From there he could tell the young Artemis to leave this room for an hour and he would be gone. That would at least give them time to discuss what they would need to do.

"Well… have your father vanished… yet?"

Artemis felt like something was sucking out his stomach. The other knew about his father's disappearance? _He is not dead! It can't be!_ He managed a weak: "Yes, he has. What about it?"

Hiccup was surprised at this change in tone. But then he remembered that Artemis hadn't known his father was kidnapped until he was thirteen and that he'd essentially given up on his father at age twelve. Therefore the wounds of not knowing where his father was would still be fresh right now. So Hiccup quickly reassured Artemis: "He is not dead. He was only kidnapped by the Russians and we… I managed to save him in my time. He's alive."

This set a massive chain reaction of thoughts through the young Artemis. He was relieved at the information, but still wouldn't it be easy information to give away if this other one actually came from a team of specialists from the Russian mafia? And now that his supposed older self had actually said it Artemis felt increasingly suspicious; why had he mentioned Russia? Was the other aware that that was where Artemis suspected he came from? Was this a subtle threat; we're going to kill your father if we don't get what we want? Artemis wasn't at all reassured by the fact that his other self was smiling at him.

Another thought: Wasn't it supposed to be impossible to retrieve a kidnapped victim from the Russian mafia? How could he have done it then? Artemis had decided. The other would have to be questioned, right now. He then called upon Butler.

Hiccup froze when the young Artemis called for his bodyguard. What had gone wrong? What had he done wrong? Hiccup considered shortly whether he should run. He quickly decided against it; most importantly Artemis was blocking the only exit and getting on the bad side of the bodyguard that was now entering the room – a mountain of a man – seemed a really bad idea. Another thing was that he would be running away as if he was blindfolded; he had no idea where he was or where he would go. So though the man coming toward him was even higher and scarier than his father Hiccup didn't flinch.

"How did you come in here?" Butler asked in an extremely intimidating voice. A good first impression coupled with intimidation usually yielded immediate results. But after five seconds of silence Butler realized they were dealing with a professional. _Dammit, I should have walked into this room first._ So much for routinely checking all the rooms. Not making that mistake again he quickly surmised the room – and nearly had a heart attack. Drawing his tranquilizer and shooting the assailant standing in the middle of the room, Butler quickly walked towards the far end of the room. A desk had been moved and behind it sat – another kid. For just two moments Butler relaxed and then sighed. What was the world coming to when you sent kids to assassinate people? But then he remembered that these kids had apparently broken into Artemis' study without even being discovered. And he didn't hesitate anymore.

Artemis could only helplessly watch the room from above. _Would this be the time to be tied by guilt?_ _Is there such a thing as fate when Hiccup said he was lucky?_ And then another thought completely unrelated: _Why do I only have three computers? Oh, right, not enough money._ Back to business; he saw Butler walk out with the two intruders slung across his back. Young Artemis complemented Butler for his fast reaction speed and they walked out the door. Artemis' heart sank through his body like a fire burning from the top floor to the bottom floor and leaving a burnt out shell. What should he do now?

Hiccup hadn't meant for standing completely still. It was just that unlike when his father questioned him, and the answers wouldn't seem to stop, this man had somehow silenced him. Or perhaps his role had silenced him – Artemis Fowl wouldn't freak out, at least the only time Hiccup had seen him do that was when he'd been beaten by his father. He had been about to say something to keep the man from checking out the room, but then he'd done just that and in a single second had brought up a small metallic object. The next thing Hiccup felt was a small pain in his lower abdomen before dizziness and then darkness was overtaking him.

When the four people left the room, Artemis dropped into the room. He had to use his brainpower to figure out something. What could he do? It was not too late. What could he do? He couldn't use the computers. Or could he? If he could find some sort of object to spear on one of his claws he could… forget it. Too complicated and without any real chance of a result. What he needed was a way of communication. But there seemed to be no means anywhere.

Hah. Let the confusion begin. I'll try my best at keeping the names correct when seen from different points of views, but let me know if I have a slip-up (I'm only human you know). As always thanks for reading. See you in two days.


	18. Communication

Oh, man. My mom stole my PlayStation 3 to watch Mad Men (her birthday present; she just turned 42), my dad stole my X-Box 360 to play Call of Duty: Black Ops and my internet is completely crippled. This did give me time to write this chapter, but still… no manga reading online (I like to surf for new manga)? No fanfiction reading online? No games? Oh, man. This chapter has had two working titles, but I finally decided upon a third title. Usually I don't give much for the title, it's just a means to remember which chapter you've reached, and remember what happens in each. Today's random statistic has nothing to do with the story… my internet sucks… but we got an IQ-test in our school and I was shocked by my result, so I thought I'd share. I'm mentally handicapped! Kidding… *whisper* I scored 139! WTF O_O! Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though. And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 18: Communication.

_Calm down._

When thinking, when making great plans, you needed absolute silence. Not just physically, but mentally too. It wouldn't do that he thought too much about Hiccup or Toothless right now as the main problem was communication. _Not thinking about what Hiccup or Toothless were going through now? Easier thought than executed_. He knew what he was capable of and in the months after his father had disappeared he knew that almost every situation had been extremely volatile. Something as simple as going to a meeting with yet another shifty eyed creditor had worn his nerves down. Perhaps the younger him had even already experienced… the event.

His mother had been unable to recognize him. A mental breakdown soon followed caused by a massive depression. It had continued for two years. After "the event" he had gradually lost his feelings. After all, feelings would only hurt him. Gold and power would bring him where he needed to go. And his descent into the criminal world had begun. At least Artemis strong sense of individuality, his own values, had been strong enough to keep him out of the shadiest of deals. But he'd done some pretty bad stuff in his time. He was still paying the price for that.

_Focus_.

Not thinking about how his younger self would use the entirety of the hour that the tranquilizer lasted – possibly even longer seeing as you couldn't call either Artemis' body or Hiccup's body adult sized – to gain information on his friends. He would then decide their fate by a full-on interrogation; Artemis would definitely be interested to know how they'd broken into Fowl Manor without getting caught by the cameras. He just had to praise his luck that the study was a camera-free zone. Artemis valued his privacy however much it could be useful to have another camera. Besides, a camera _was_ pointed at the hallway outside of the study, with an unobstructed view of the only door into the room, and that would suffice.

The younger Artemis would not find any information. He would maybe find something through Hiccup's clothing, that the boy was a Viking. Maybe he would analyze the destroyed suit Artemis had and deduce that the design wasn't supposed to exist before another three years when Artemis took the time to design it. But any solid evidence would have to come from the inevitable interrogation.

Not wanting to think about it, but unable to contain his train of thoughts he knew that it would most likely play out badly. Toothless spoke Norse and Artemis Fowl age ten would probably not be fluent enough in the quirks of that language to know an alternate universe's dialect of a thousand year old language. Hiccup would probably try to convince his younger self how Hiccup was actually him from the future. But the success of him doing this alone was less than 10 %. If Artemis revealed himself without the ability to communicate that success rate would drop to less than 1 %. He knew himself well and the revelation of dragons existing would probably be too much for the young Artemis to cope with. And then Butler would follow up with the protection of his young charge's sanity.

_Communication, think communication_.

If he had hands… but he didn't! No use thinking about "what if's". What options did he have? The computers were a no go. That meant no translation programs of any kind. Besides, realistically, not even he would be able to write such a program in less than three days. And by then it would be too late. He could scratch in the floor different words… but it would take far too long, and the shock of a dragon walking through the door would probably… scratch that, _would_ take all the attention of Artemis and not the fact that he was writing something on the floor. Perhaps he could write what he wanted to say along the hallway and then make enough noise to make Artemis and Butler come to see… but it would still be a long shot.

He could rip the books on the bookcase to pieces and put them together again in the way of what he wanted to say. Again… too risky. And it would just as the others leave no room for an answer to the first revealing. Artemis saw it as having two options – either he would have to figure out some way of writing a precise enough statement that would leave no room for argument and would completely convince his younger self of everything or he would have to find some way of being able to be understood. The more time passed the more Artemis realized that he would need to be able to be understood – perfectly. The other would only lead to more improbable ideas and he needed to focus now.

But this proved increasingly difficult. His habit of reflecting upon the past was battling with his ideas and soon jumbled words, that Artemis did not remember ever getting told echoed through his mind… _easier for you to accept your loss_. It had been something about Simetras motives… What did he hope to accomplish? He remembered some more about Hiccup and Toothless being included in his punishment, but at this Artemis had to stop and ponder. How the hell could this be considered a punishment? It was much more of a punishment of the other two who weren't used to… the scale of some of his achievements. Artemis was undeniably better suited for the stress of these crazy kinds of things happening – though it was still a bit much.

But a punishment? More like an inconvenience. The relatively mild punishment made Artemis question the true motives of Simetra. Either Simetra was enjoying the confusion he was causing and had absolutely no interest in ever knowing what infinity looked like… or he had some sort of reason for doing things as he had done. Who knows… perhaps everything he'd said had been a lie? Except for one thing… when Artemis had addressed him as Artemis. No one could fake that anger; it had been particularly truthful. Particular in the sense that _if_ everything had been a lie, then that would be the one grain of truth, but if everything had been true then this would have been an emphasized truth. He still remembered the tone; _if you say that name, I will murder you!_

Artemis realized he was wasting precious time getting sidetracked over things he did not have the time – the luxury – to think about. And just as a particular stupid idea had been thrashed – perhaps he could find a flute and communicate through music – a blinding light of an idea hit him. Unwillingly getting a picture of a light bulb appearing over his head and as the idea lit up his dark mind, he immediately decided to try it out. Now… how did you extend your teeth when you were a Night Fury?

In the same house another was waking up. It was the second time within two hours he had woken up and he could no longer ignore the burning in his stomach. It was his ravenous hunger that woke him up – he'd have to get some fish sooner rather than later otherwise he'd wilt like a dry flower – but staring around the room he realized there were more important things going on right now. For instance the pale boy sitting in a chair in front of him and, after looking around, Hiccup. Both he and Hiccup were sitting on uncomfortable stools leaning against the wall and had their hands and feet tied together. And even if Toothless would want to try his luck with his new body's balance, he noticed the nearly invisible giant of a man standing in a dark corner of the room ready for such an event. The room was completely empty besides this.

The pale kid said something. But Toothless seemed completely oblivious to the speech. He just continued to quell his hunger and observe his surroundings. Calmness won many a battle and right now wouldn't do to give in. The boy in front of him looked a bit like Artemis, but the eyes were different. They were both a clear blue color, and they seemed to glisten in anticipation.

The young Artemis tried again: "You are awake." This time it wasn't a question, it was a statement. And he continued by producing a meal consisting of bread and a glass of water.

This was a carefully calculated move. The men – or boys – who had broken into his home were both very hungry. Unable to contain the sounds of their rumbling stomachs, this was something Artemis knew he could use against them. It irritated him beyond belief that he could come up with no more than a simple friendly gesture, but every move he'd made to find out the two strangers were anticipated – there was nothing on them anywhere. Artemis had considered checking the internet, but had dismissed the idea… too little time and too much of a hassle. It would be easier to make the strangers tell him their own story.

It wasn't as if he hadn't racked his brains beforehand though. The outfits for instance. The suit on his supposed future self… it was brilliant. Destroyed, but brilliant. And yet the design was nowhere to be found. He'd sent the picture to a contact (one of his few remaining, one of those who had been loyal to his father for years upon years), but the search had proved fruitless. It was as if the unconscious person had designed and sewn it himself. The other was even more interesting. Dressed like a Viking from the tenth century, complete with "tools" (read: weapons) and everything as if said "tools" were no more than a year old, this person fascinated Artemis. What secrets would this person hold?

The story of time travel was known to Artemis of course, but he'd dismissed the idea three years prior with a single calculation. _Too much energy needed_. Four simple words and then there was no more need for that. Perhaps when fusion energy became popular, Artemis would try again, but for now there was no way. But if…_if_ these people could sufficiently convince him, when they were under his control... when they no longer had the advantage... if they could still convince him, then he would immediately call off the deal with Kronski. Though he needed the money… there were other ways of earning them when you controlled a couple of time travelers. Somewhere deep in him he resented himself for even thinking about the deal with Kronski, but the need for money – the need to find his father – had outwitted his morals and he had already had this discussion with himself. Spending no more time with reflecting on past failures or future possibilities, Artemis returned his attention to the person in front of him.

Lifting the plate closer to his mouth the green eyed teen looked suspiciously at him, then at Butler who was standing somewhere behind him, before violently eating the entire loaf in one swallow. This turned out to be a bad idea.

Toothless had almost cried when he'd been offered bread – the dragon in him almost refused to look at it; it would give him a stomachache; it would taste horrible; it… it smelled good… – but then throwing all caution to the winds, he bit down on the piece of bread and opening his mouth, he tried to make it fall down through his throat as he usually did. Unfortunately the human body did not have as wide an air canal as dragons did and Toothless experienced for the first time in his life the sensation of being strangled. Getting to his feet only to fall to the ground and making the plate fall to the ground with him in the process, Toothless began writhing on the floor trying to somehow get his body to swallow. It was only because of the moisture the bread was exposed to was enough to make it smaller, that Toothless didn't suffer a very undignified end.

Breathing heavily as his lungs once again were able to obtain air to circulate through him, he began coughing violently. That had been a little too close for comfort. Sinking twice in an attempt to clear the bad taste in his mouth and wriggling a little more on the floor, Toothless suddenly found himself on the chair again. The bodyguard had lifted him back upon the chair. He then returned to his corner.

As if nothing happened Artemis spoke again: "Hope the meal was satisfactory." Inwardly he cringed… what the hell had just happened? Why had the man tried to kill himself? Artemis realized he was thinking of the other as a man again, and found that he thought of the other as one because he was taller than him and because of the recent suicide attempt. No mere kid could have done that and the height merely added to help Artemis in his determination to define the other as a man. What sort of information did he possess seeing as he wouldn't give them up under any circumstances?

Toothless just stared dumbly at the boy. Why was nothing happening? Why was he not being offered the water? Toothless briefly wondered whether he'd be able to drink without killing himself, but reasoned that water was liquid and thus he could do as he'd always done. There _should_ be no problem with that. Humans could tolerate water, right? Then he noticed something… it was subtle and yet now that he noticed it, it was dominating him. It was the taste. The dry bread, something that should have tasted absolutely dreadful, tasted like… like… heaven! Finally Toothless checked off his final marker of human senses: Sense of taste, godlike.

It was amazing how different the taste was. Toothless was used to different fish, which all had minimally different tastes – he usually loved cod the most, as it was the one with the strongest taste – but anything other than fish… what would be the point? With the exception of certain land animals everything else tasted like… eel (!) only without the toxic aftereffects. Toothless had once, when he was very young, ignored his instincts and eaten an eel despite his father's warnings. After two weeks the intensely painful stomachache had finally left him… with a memory for life and a reminder not to distrust instincts. They really did know what was best for you.

But now he really needed the water. Getting the initial hunger sated he now needed something to flush it down with. His mouth felt like it was drying up and once again Toothless was impressed with the human sense of feeling. There was definitely something to work with when it came to that.

Artemis saw his captive eyeing the glass of water in his other hand and he realized the implication. But did he dare to try and feed him anything again? Making a sign for Butler to be ready he lifted the glass to the other's lips and the other drank greedily. And without incident.

Thusly refreshed Toothless sighed contently. He was still hungry, but now that his stomach had found something to work on he found he could concentrate on the pale kid. He had already gotten used to the black cloths that everyone seemed to wear now. He was the only one in the room not dressed up in some dark outfit and while he still was a bit suspicious of the pale kid, he supposed he should give him a chance. _Wait a second…_ Why was he so willing to give the other his trust? Was it a trait he'd inherited from Hiccup's body or was it just him being silly and paranoid? He'd apparently lost his ability to peer into a person's soul, because nothing came of it as he stared into the others' blue ones.

Deciding now to be a good time Toothless tested his ability to speak again, with a bit more luck this time around: "So, who are you?" Toothless felt pleased with himself; not a single mistake. Toothless felt the question a bit unnecessary, but he needed to be sure. The other looked like Artemis... but especially his eyes were different. Not just color wise... they had a sort of hidden darkness. Much more distinct than when he'd seen into Artemis eyes. This made him question whether they were the same. He would just need a confirmation.

Artemis on the other hand was now the one who was staring dumbly. The words that left his prisoner's mouth was almost like nothing he'd ever heard – and definitely not something you heard every day. The man spoke bloody Norse. Fluidly even. This made Artemis think of two things. At first he thought the man was making fun of him. Or that it was some kind of code to the other and he could feel himself tensing. But when nothing happened, he suddenly realized the second possibility. Could it be? Was this person an actual Viking? Who had been brought forward in time! Clearing his mind he tried to remember all he'd read on Norse. He realized he could not remember how to speak it; he could remember how it was spelled though. Quick as to not lose any progress in the conversation Artemis got up from his chair and left the room.

Walking absentmindedly into one of the many guestrooms he soon found what he was looking for. A notebook and a pen. Bringing it back to the cell he sat down in front of the confused captive. He showed the other the block and the pen and then wrote: 'Hello. My name is Artemis. Who are you?' The writing was very crude, but Artemis was too excited at the prospect of something as unlikely as time travel actually being real to care about his handwriting. This was why he used a computer, but when that failed every once in a while Artemis still had pen and paper. And seeing as his computers did not have a translation program for Norse – something he'd have to change – Artemis had to do it the old fashioned way.

Toothless had been a bit confused. The kid had left for a couple of minutes and Toothless thought it was for good – had it been something he'd said? – but then he had returned with a pen and a notebook. The other then showed him a page with some runes. Toothless snorted. He should have really learned the runic alphabet, but Hiccup hadn't shown him. They'd been too busy keeping him secret and optimizing their flight. Toothless missed flying, he realized. More than that he missed freedom. Getting back to the kid he showed a sad expression, shrugged and shook his head while saying: "I can't read." Another perfect sentence. _But did anyone expect anything else?_

This was frustrating. Artemis had gotten the idea – the other couldn't read – and he supposed it made sense. Only the village chief and the elders of the village would have been able to read – the rest just needed to be able to fight. This one didn't look too tough – but his eyes had seen battles. Death and destruction on an unimaginable scale. Artemis knew what to look for in a person and he'd found it – the killing intent, the look of war – within the first two seconds. Luckily, it seemed the other captive was coming around.

Hiccup woke up with a groan. He would appreciate it if he, the next time he needed sleep, would do so willingly and would not be forced. The younger Artemis was sitting and looking expectantly at him. "What?" he asked. Then his stomach growled and he realized that Artemis – Artemis' body – must've gotten as little to eat as he had. Looking around he saw Toothless who stared at him with a content look on his face – he must have been fed, nothing else would bring that look around – and he saw Butler standing near the exit to the room, silently assessing the situation.

Artemis shrugged at the question. "You should know I don't take kindly to strangers. But I suppose I will give you food so you can focus on our conversation and not your hunger." And with those words Artemis picked up a plate with a loaf of bread and a glass of water to flush it down with. It had been hidden behind his chair. Hiccup gratefully tried to accept it… and found his hands tied. "Could you trust me to not try anything? I haven't given you reason to anything otherwise, have I?" At the look he got from the bodyguard he added: "You could leave the plate and walk over to Butler over there. That way you wouldn't come into close contact with me."

Artemis agreed. He wasn't used to hostage situations, but he could see no tricks in the others reasoning. He noticed the other knew Butler's name. Interesting. After a moment of thought he got up from the chair and walked over to the exit while Butler cut the bonds that held his hands. Hiccup then proceeded to pick up the plate – admiring the porcelain, he'd never seen before; Vikings had metal plates – and before long there was no more bread. The water went down even faster.

Toothless noticed how Hiccup ate and tried not to chuckle. So that was what had gone wrong. He'd forgotten to chew the food – something that only the biggest of preys needed when he was a dragon, but something that humans seemed to need with every food no matter what. As he could not see his teeth he instead tested them and found they fit together – a benefit of having square teeth. But he couldn't retract them. And this was probably a good thing considering all the sounds were made by the sound travelling differently through the mouth and not through the larynx with different intensities.

After the meal, Hiccup then put his hands in the same position again and as Butler warily approached him Hiccup thought how the bodyguard would react if he got up and yelled 'boo!' Not very favorably, Hiccup guessed. The way the bodyguard was eyeing him, you'd think he'd seen a ghost. When he'd been bound again, Artemis neared again. "So… I have some questions for you and your friend. First off, do you understand your friend?" Artemis asked Hiccup.

"Yes, I do." Hiccup replied.

"Then I shall ask my questions to him through you. However I would like to know more about you… or me. How did you time travel?"

Hiccup couldn't possibly know that Artemis had already looked into the matter and come with the conclusion that more energy was needed. Therefore only if he answered something about fusion energy would Artemis believe his supposed future self. He awaited in breathless anticipation the verdict. But it was interrupted by a flash of light. A vortex opened in the middle of the room and out came… another Artemis Fowl. For one second Hiccup considered sighing. The impossible had happened – the ridiculous was beginning to become normal. He found himself calmly noting that this Artemis had one blue and one hazel eye much like the Artemis he was pretending to be. And his suit wasn't ripped to pieces but was whole. And somehow something else seemed off, but Hiccup couldn't quite place it.

Butler reacted quite violently upon the new arrival, but Artemis stopped him with a motion of his hand. This… this was the good stuff. He immediately promised himself he would let Kronski know exactly how much he disliked the man. Doing it over an email seemed impersonal, so Artemis decided he would either allow the man a videoconference or he would travel to Mr. Damon Kronski in his souk, find him and tell him the deal was off. He was way too creepy to Artemis ever letting himself involve in such a deal again so there would be no losses if Artemis should ever consider taking up the man's offer again. He would even gain some infamy which was always good. In the meantime he would begin to delve into the art of time travel – even the word sounded artistic and tasteful. Discovery waited on the other side of an explanation.

"I think… I am convinced. And you did not even speak a single word, Mr. Fowl or should I call you Artemis 1," the younger Fowl said to Hiccup. "And you, should I call you Artemis 2?"

The Artemis that had just emerged from the time portal from which there was even still some trace left of in the air – rippling, distorting reality and yet completely harmless as demonstrated when Butler picked up the pen Artemis had dropped and touched the substance – seemed to be completely disbelieving of the situation he'd just stepped into. A single word escaped his mouth: "What…?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Does time travel mess up memories? Are you not Artemis Fowl?" the younger Fowl asked again trying to control the situation. Apparently the younger Artemis liked being in control, much more than his older counterpart, Hiccup noted. The situation however was too surreal to demand such an answer immediately – so surreal that Butler even intruded into the conversation. "Artemis?" Three heads turned towards him. Butler winced at the reaction that seemed to have been timed. "Never mind."

The newly intruded Artemis decided to answer the younger Fowl's question: "I do not think that time travel mess up memories. And yes I am Artemis Fowl… the Second, if that specifies it."

"Good. Then you are Old Artemis, he is Middle Artemis," the young Fowl pointed in the direction of the bound Hiccup, "and I shall be Young Artemis. That way we can keep track of who is who and address each other accordingly. Numbers make the whole thing seem silly, I realize now."

"But…" the older Artemis said desperately. He seemed to try and keep track of what was happening. "Is this not the day of the event?"

The younger Fowl seemed to freeze up. "The event?"

"Mother… and… you know, right?"

"That… was a few days ago, yes." The younger Fowl had an extremely sober look on his face. Sadness was rippling through his face trying to break through his professionalism. His mask was cracking. He countered with a question: "Is time travel an imprecise art? Is that why both of you have asked about when you are?"

"I don't know about the other me," a gesture to the bound Hiccup followed, "but yes it is quite imprecise. It's fueled by emotions, you see."

The young Fowl's eyes narrowed. How come one didn't know about the other? "You don't know about this one?"

The older Artemis shook his head: "No."

The young Fowl then turned to the other triumphantly: "So, it is you who is the latest, the older one? You have already been Old Artemis, have you?"

But Hiccup could not lie about this; it was as weird to him as it seemed to the older Artemis. However before he answered Old Artemis interrupted: "Listen, it's all well and good that we're trying to work it out, but Mother is sick and dying. I came back to change a specific future – I came back for the lemur. Is it still here?"

At these words the young Fowl paled even more than what seemed possible. "So… I… why? Why would you ask for that?" "The lemur's brain fluid is the only known cure for what Mother has."

"I did the deal? And now Mother is dying because of… me?" The younger Fowl asked incredulously. Old Artemis confirmed. At this the last remnants of Fowls mask broke. There was only so much you could take – and the knowledge that he'd executed his mother was definitely one of the things for which there would be no question that any sane man would break down. But Artemis was a genius. The line between genius and insanity wasn't a wide one. So after merely five seconds of grief, the younger Artemis was back online. Not the most healthy thing... but he wasn't alone and he needed to pay attention.

The young Fowl had now given it some thought and the only reason these two would come back, would be because they succeeded in bringing healing Mother. So the only time he'd actually done the deal… thereby executing Mother... was the first time. Which was now nowhere? Even his brain couldn't see the connection just yet. But he knew that they needed the lemur. Now only one question remained: "So, Middle Artemis, who is your friend?

Toothless didn't understand a word of this and seemed content with watching the magical events unfold. Now there were three. When was the fourth coming?

_Oh man._ How to explain this? The appearance of a third Artemis had kept him from being scrutinized for a few precious seconds, but now he was back under the microscope. And he didn't know if he could deliver a believable lie, one which needed to convince not only one, but two Artemis'. The small amount of trust they'd gained in each other was so fragile, and Hiccup couldn't deal with it. Who should he say the other one was? As he knew his thinking time was up and he had to give an answer, he was once again saved by the bell. A sound came from somewhere. It was a small tune.

Annoyed Artemis picked up his mobile phone. Next time, if there would be a next time, he would remember silencing the stupid phone when making hostage interrogations. The call was from a secret number; untraceable. "Hello, who is it?"

A rasping voice came on the other end: "Someone you know. Could you do me a favor? Could you tell everyone in the room that the lie no longer needs to be kept? And that they should explain everything. If you say it comes from Toothless, then they'll know."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. Now he was the one losing control. Just as Old Artemis had when he'd arrived here having no idea of any outside influence, just as he had captured the Middle Artemis and his mysterious friend, now he was losing control… to someone called Toothless no less. But it undoubtedly sounded interesting so Artemis replied: "I… ok?" The call ended immediately upon this.

Back at the study, Artemis ended the call. He'd just spent one and a half hour learning how to speak again; something that was incredibly challenging. How Toothless in Hiccup's body had done the same with just a few minutes, Artemis could not comprehend. But he'd finally learned it. It was simple really. Simply put Artemis tried to find a tone he could make as a dragon and then using human mouth movements, he could direct the sound to sound like something that could be understood. The result was a bit rough, but he'd gotten the message through. Now it was a simple matter of waiting; he'd wait a quarter that should be enough time. Doubling that time should give him plenty of time to answer the unavoidable questioning that would follow.

Bringing down the phone with an empty look on his face the young Artemis turned to face the two captives. "It was Toothless. He says you should drop the lie and explain everything." _Whatever the hell that means._

Hiccup tensed at first; how did he know? But then thinking in futuristic ways, Hiccup realized that they had some sort of way of talking over great distances. He'd just seen it; the device! And then: _Artemis has found a way to communicate_! Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief. Artemis had decided it best to reveal everything. Why, Hiccup did not know, but Artemis knew himself the best so Hiccup began from the beginning. "Then I shall have to reintroduce myself. I'm not Artemis. I am merely borrowing his body. I'm actually Hiccup. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. This is Toothless. And the one, who just told you to call him Toothless, is Artemis Fowl the Second." The cat was out of the bag. Hiccup hoped the others wouldn't freak out when a dragon jumped out of it as well.

Quickly moving over key points of the story, Hiccup described the fantastic story to the others. Not leaving out anything it took the entirety of thirty minutes to tell the story. Toothless smiled at Hiccup's story and nodded at different points. Hiccups words seemed to make sense... but Toothless couldn't quite place it. Perhaps it was Hiccup's body language and Toothless keen observational skills that was beginning to pave the road for him to learn English as well. But Toothless didn't notice this development... only that by the end of the story, he'd gotten some key words down. When it was all over a disbelieving atmosphere lay over the empty room. The older and the younger Artemis both seemed to have questions right on the tips of their tongues and Butler had gotten an interesting look on his face – one that said "this was not in the job description… but I wouldn't miss this for anything." Or at least Hiccup took the expression as that.

The phone rang again. The caller; Fowl Manor. _No more secret numbers, huh?_ The younger Artemis picked up the phone. "So?" the rasping voice asked.

The younger Artemis could not believe what he was hearing. It was too far out. Too… overwhelming. But he had some childish faith left in him and deciding to give it a whirl and see what the outcome was he spun the wheel of fate. "You… can come. The meeting room… the one where Father always held his meetings. That is where we're at." Artemis felt a twinge of guilt using the past tense about his father, but right now his father was probably still kidnapped by the Russians… if the story was true. It couldn't be, could it?

"I'll be there." The voice said and hung up.

Artemis once again hung up. He dropped the stick (made out of a cut piece of floor) he'd been using to even use the phone – the phone luckily had huge numbers, which meant that even though Artemis was now extremely clumsy in using manmade things, he could still use a phone, when pressing the stick slowly against the buttons – and walked out the door. Walking down the hall brought an air of nostalgia to him. The pictures of his forefathers, the clinical camera positions, everything reminded him of how horrible those three months had been. Rats leaving a sinking ship. His Mother and Father taken from him in what seemed a single breath. Clearing his mind and walking up to the meeting room, he knocked on the door. Butler opened it.

It took everything Butler had in him not to freak out. This was _definitely _not part of the job description. His every fiber screamed at him to react, but Artemis had given his orders. So he let the black monster into the room. It had a blue and a hazel eye; as if that made everything worse; as if that underlined the unnatural being in front of him.

The younger Artemis felt everything click into place. His father was alive, but kidnapped, his mother would apparently be okay through the help of fairies, his fortune would become reinstated and everything seemed an adventure from this moment onwards. Everything was so real. And so unreal at the same time. Was he dreaming? Or sleepwalking; if that somehow made the dream more realistic? No, this was undeniably reality.

Time splitting into multiple realities every second an infinite amount of times. Body switching. Dragons. Fairies. Multiple Artemis'. Alternate universes. The defining of infinity. The realization of the absolute memory. Other unexplainable phenomena becoming realized before them. The world suddenly seemed an ordinary place. The younger Artemis shook his head one final time, but the dragon walked into the room, dignified, proud, and he had to admit it was all real. He couldn't even begin to imagine the, in this very moment, infinite amount of possibilities that this could lead to. He smiled.

Toothless thought of Artemis' impressive entrance. _Showoff_. But nonetheless very impressive. He seemed to have found the way to walk as a dragon. _But he probably can't even run. Or fly_. That was still his monopoly. Toothless smiled at that prospect.

Hiccup also felt they were back on track. Everything had righted itself… again. But… he couldn't help but think about the next time it would go wrong. He feared when that moment came. But he wouldn't think of that now. Right now, all was well. Hiccup smiled.

Butler was coming over from the initial shock. It was… truly magical to be part of this moment. Butler couldn't otherwise describe the feeling running through him. The creature was intelligent. And friendly. And finally Butler relaxed and allowed himself a smile. Albeit just a little one.

And all the while the older Artemis, the Artemis that had come from the time stream, smirked at the reaction of the others. He knew something they didn't. But it would not do to tell. That could ruin everything. So the older Artemis kept his silence and bided his time. It was time to save a lemur.

(In another place)

Somewhere else, the mood was not so charged with positive thoughts. Mourning was not the something you would expect Vikings to be good at. But they were. And they were right now totally hooked on staying that way for a long time. Stoick was actually the worst Viking at mourning – he hadn't shed a tear at any of his fellow Vikings when they'd fallen against the dragon raids, only gotten more angry, except when his wife had fallen; he'd had a few days to himself, but he'd been back, angrier and more frightening than ever – but right now he was shaming whoever wrote that. Nothing would stop the flow of tears except for sleeping and when he slept he dreamt of Hiccup looking at him harshly and saying: "I'm not one of them!" And then he threw his helmet off and got eaten by a huge dragon.

Three days had passed now. Astrid would have mourned Hiccup as was fitting if he had died, but she had closed up completely since Hiccup had… vanished. She would still not believe he was dead, he was just gone, but if the conversation fell on Hiccup's demise she would either become extremely annoyed with who had asked or she would just leave. During the first three hours she'd even thrown someone overboard from anger. Only when she was sure she was alone would she cry; usually in her room and even then she could only shed a few tears. Because Hiccup would be back. He was going to get it for making her worry like this. He would.

The one good thing that came of all of this was the dragons. Hiccup had shown how to calm down the dragons to the other trainees and now they could, with mixed results, show how it was done. Some of the dragons were still a bit reluctant, as were some of the Vikings but eventually, though it took a few days, a routine was established again. Peace was finally a reality. If only it hadn't cost so much. Stoick was going to have to plan his son's funeral as was tradition. But he didn't know if he was strong enough for something like that. Perhaps the next day. Or the one after that.

Gah, finally got everything spellchecked. Just a few continuity issues corrected nothing serious. As for the last three paragraphs, I thought it'd be nice to have a reaction – however short – from Berk. They're not going to have a huge impact on the second part, but I'm a "what happens? Explain!" kind of guy. I try to ask as many questions as possible while working with my ideas. Finally this is the end of confusion for now. But not the end of complexity/confusion for part 2. Heh. Hope you liked this chapter! See you in two more days.


	19. Manipulation

With this chapter I've officially written my longest story ever. The previous record goes to an unpublished story I wrote when I was seven. It is extremely badly executed and will probably never be published. Let's have a minute of silence for small beginnings. Now, the basic plot on the other hand… is okay. Some guy named Filip crash-lands on an island and finding the highest mountain he scales the mountain. But the island is cursed and so it is kinda hard to reach the top of the mountain with flying elephants and mutated giant ants keeping him from the top. As I said, poorly executed, but not necessarily a bad plot. The triumphant part is this: I wrote that story over nearly a year, until I was eight. Now I've used a month to write the same total length (80000 words were the previous record.) Today's random statistic goes to: 1400 hits! Wow, to think such an obscure story could get so many… Thanks for following so far.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 19: Manipulation.

Two thirds of the Artemis-population in the meeting room felt different than what they'd expected to be feeling in that moment. For one, the younger Fowl realized his mistake – one that if he'd realized it earlier could have made him react differently – but now it fit with everything else. The eyes! If only he'd noticed earlier, he would most likely have become more suspicious. How could he have been blinded by the magic of the situation to not notice the most glaring error in his futuristic counterparts? But quickly turning this mistake around to something useful… Artemis realized there had to be something called the soul. Old Artemis had a blue and a hazel eye, the dragon, which inhabited the soul of another Artemis, had the same eye color combination. And this in turn meant that both Artemis' had to have gone through the same process, which strengthened their story. So the young Artemis grinned; he'd just proven there was something called the soul. After all, the neurons that made a person a person, according to science, didn't have anything to do with your eye color so it had to be the soul!

The second Artemis who didn't feel as he should be – triumphant as a plan came together – was the one residing in the Night Fury's body. This Artemis had taken four steps – four and a half actually – before freezing. Noticing the additional Artemis did that. And he also noticed something else. But he didn't comment on that for now. Instead he mentally sighed; this was another alternate universe. For a short while he actually thought it had been his own original universe, but realizing now that he couldn't remember any memories of a dragon from when he was ten, he realized that was not the case. Even if his memories had somehow been wiped... the second Artemis being present confirmed the fact that this was an alternate universe. But interestingly the newly appeared Artemis looked nearly identical to him as he'd been… before this mess.

Extending his teeth and using a single rasping note (the one he'd found to sound partially normal), he began speaking slowly: "Who are you?"

The older Artemis yelped slightly before answering, being subjected to the dragon's intense stare making him feel slightly anxious: "I'm… Artemis Fowl the Second. Just… like you?"

Either that was the most convincing lie in history or the older Artemis actually spoke the truth. That was the verdict the younger Fowl had on the answer. Still… to think that the dragon was actually him… that was actually pretty cool. He briefly wondered whether or not the stories of dragons were true; how much could they do? Could they actually breathe fire? They could definitely fly, which Artemis merely saw as an added benefit, but what else could they do? Quickly erasing thoughts that he thought he'd gotten rid of years ago – why was he thinking so dreamily about these things; he needed seriousness right now, not childish dreams – he returned his attention to the conversation.

"Yes. Just like me." Artemis considered his next move. "I think… I might need to speak with you privately," he continued cryptically. "Could you all leave me and him alone for a few moments," Artemis asked gazing around at the others.

After Butler had released the prisoners he proceeded out the door, closely followed by the younger Fowl. Hiccup and Toothless then wobbled a bit uncertainly out the door – both of them was still feeling a bit weird of the feeling of being tranquillized and Toothless still had a bit of balancing problems. When the door closed behind them, dragon Artemis turned to his human counterpart. "Why have you come?" The question was nearly a growl, Artemis would let the answer decide the other's fate. It might be he'd found trust to be a bit more useful than what he thought it would be, but trusting himself – that was another story.

"Because Mother is sick. She needs a cure. The only known cure is the brain fluids of the silky sifaka lemur of Madagascar – and if you really are me, you should remember how you sold it Damon Kronski! I came back to change that."

"How did you time travel?"

"Simple. I asked No 1 to open a time portal. The rest is history."

Artemis expression narrowed. While it didn't do anything but make his pupils slightly more contracted, the effect was the same. "So… final question. Care to explain what Holly is doing here?" The mist that was left in the air after the time travel stopped shimmering and Holly appeared with a big smile on her face.

"Well spotted. But I think I can speak for myself." After a moments silence to see whether she would be stopped – in which case that person would probably get his ass kicked, dragon or not – she continued: "I… I couldn't… leave Artemis alone to face all of this, could I?" The pauses in her statement did not convince Artemis, it was clearly a lie, but he supposed it wasn't something for him to discuss.

Meanwhile the human Artemis shook his head sadly. _Did she really have to say that?_ But the dragon was already trotting out of the room. With a final look back at the two figures – one that said "do what you want to do" mixed with "just don't try anything funny" – he left the room leaving the fairy and the human alone. Artemis sighed; he shouldn't have brought Holly. He really shouldn't. But having a trump card was better than having none. And in this case Holly wasn't his only trump card.

Out in the hallway dragon Artemis smelled his way out into the kitchen. Though there was quite a bit of distance between the meeting room and the kitchen, Artemis found it as easy to follow the smell as it was following an actual person leading him. When he came to the kitchen he found Toothless and Hiccup gaping over the wonders of modern cooking – Butler volunteered for this job – but there was no young Artemis. Snorting, as to make his presence known for Butler as to not scare the bodyguard into doing something he would regret, Artemis decided he could also go for a bit of food. Though he didn't feel hungry – which in itself was amazing when you thought of that it was quite a while since Toothless body had gotten fed – he didn't feel stuffed either. It was like there was room, but not need. Deciding it would be one of the great dragon mysteries – why was Toothless so obsessed with food when he didn't really need it quite as often as was thought – he walked over to the table the others sat at the table and began waiting expectantly. Much could be said to describe Butler, but it was the fewest people who knew he could actually cook. Usually Juliet did that job, but she wasn't around in this time. At least not yet. Something about training, Madame KO... and maybe some wrestling tapes being watched late at night.

(In Morocco)

Damon Kronski could not believe what he was hearing. All of his carefully laid plans… crumbling. And all of it because of some stupid kid, who had suddenly decided he had morals. He'd never been so insulted in his life. The kid even had the gall to ask him to seek mental help. Why did nobody understand that the purpose of the Extinctionists were to show that man were superior to animals in every way and that when an animal had outlived its usefulness to humans, it should be slaughtered as to not waste precious air? Kronski knew Artemis Fowl sr. was a tough nail and that you wouldn't want to get on that man's bad side, but jr. should have been so much easier. After all, his father had just vanished. The kid was desperate, that much had been clear in their first conversation. But now there was no show. There was no reason to continue. They didn't have a main attraction!

Worse yet, she had… specifically requested… the lemur. For a brief moment, Kronski wondered what he'd just been thinking about. Then his day continued as if nothing happened; he'd just have to accept it. If anyone had seen him in the eyes, they'd say he looked tired. Kronski would deny it of course, but he did feel a bit sluggish. And he didn't know why. All he knew was he had to tell her… it wasn't going according to plan. Again, the thought vanished seconds later. It was as if he tried to remember a dream, a far away dream, but every time he tried the further away it got. Finally letting the supposed dream go, he left to set up a new show. He couldn't just cancel; that would murder his progress. The Extinctionists were in a delicate balance as of this moment and he hoped the yellowfin cutthroat would be enough to at least keep the show going until next time.

About five minutes later a small scream of anger roared through the underground base that, unbeknownst to humans were underneath the constructed arena that Kronski had spent so much time preparing. All for naught. The pixie known as Opal Koboi was raging and in a little less than ten minutes she had moved from Hell to Heaven again. It really didn't do much for her – still perfect – complexion to rage like that, but her sources had indicated that the kid, Artemis Fowl, would surely bring her the ultimate prize. The last ingredient. It was a good thing Mervall and Descant had both been nearby, otherwise Opal would have had to blow up the base to let her anger out. Instead the two brothers got locked up with the animals. Maybe not the most creative way of solving a problem, but nonetheless a solid one. She'd let them out again when they'd passed out from the exhaustion of keeping the animals at bay. And they would lying there and take the fall when the LEP came round (the power the facility used would eventually bring attention to the place). That was Opal's reasoning, but from that idea sprung another. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

Opal needed the lemur. The LEP protected nearly extinct wildlife and even had a cloning program for the needy. That meant they would want to protect the bugger if it was in trouble. And Opal had a surefire way of bringing trouble to the equation. Now… where was Kronski when you needed a big, ugly, overly theatrical Mud Man. Opal smirked. Perfection was back on track, and there was even enough time for some truffles. Everything was going according to plan again.

(At Fowl Manor)

One superstition said that when people spoke badly of one another you sneezed. If that would have been the case then Artemis father would most likely be hospitalized for permanent pneumonia from all the sneezes needed per hour to take the bulk of the infamy his father had. But right now the younger Fowl sneezed. He hoped it was Kronski, smiling as he remembered their conversation…

"_Little Ah-temis Fowl. You find your daddy, yet?"_

"_Why, yes as a matter of fact, I have."_

Kronski had then seized up, a look of disbelief on his face. Suddenly his job had gotten a whole lot more dangerous. If Senior was in the picture then…

"_Relax, Doctor, I was merely joking. I have not found him… yet."_ Joking about the disappearance of his own father! What was this kid on about? _"The reason for my call is this: I don't need you after all. The deal is off."_

Kronski had spluttered exasperatedly. _"B… b… but why? How? You have my lemur Artemis, we had a deal!"_

"_Yes, we _had_ a deal. And now we don't have one anymore. Good day to you, Doctor, and perhaps you should get some help. You look a little sick..."_ And with those words the connection died. Artemis allowed himself a smile as he recalled Kronski's face. Breathing in deeply – I'm coming Father, after this, I'm coming – and feeling the freedom this sudden development allowed him. From now on he would delve into more tasteful deals – such as the existence of fairies and dragons and who knew, maybe the occasional werewolf and maybe a wizard. The opportunity was present and Artemis didn't see why he couldn't believe in magic while still being grounded in reality. One didn't necessarily rule out the other.

For now he guessed it would be the most interesting to ask himself out as a dragon. A conversation with oneself was something no human had ever been privileged to have before now – at least not any sane person – and the fact that the conversation would be combined with a fantastical element, something unknown, that mankind had only just scratched the surface of seemed glorious to the young Fowl. Fairies would have to come later. He'd found them once (not yet, but in the future) and he would certainly be able to do it again. Quickly making a few mental exercises as to keep himself in the loop of what would undoubtedly be an incredible conversation he began trying to locate the others. Judging from the sound they were probably in the kitchen. Judging from the cameras they were probably in the kitchen. And who would have gussed it… they were.

The young Fowl stepped into the room to a scene of chaos. The dragon was rolling on the floor, gagging, while laughter filled the room in the forms of Toothless and Hiccup. Hiccup didn't laugh as much as Toothless, but it was quite funny; he understood every wheeze and gag Artemis could spew while trying to get the taste out of his mouth. And Artemis would probably never look the same way at a roasted beef.

It had just tasted wrong! It was an incredibly awful taste, like trying to eat a cigarette bud (something that Artemis had apparently done – he couldn't remember, but it was one of the things Mother had used to blackmail him into wearing 'normal' teenage clothes; Artemis had done so for one day only and from then on he had a signed contract that disallowed the material to ever be used again) – and the only saving grace was the fact that he could swallow it without having to chew (Toothless had told him, before presenting the beef to Artemis). This had meant the taste quickly vanished, but it had still taken a lot from him.

Toothless was completely beside himself. He'd just seen Artemis _eat_ a roasted beef in one go; and the result of that was obvious. The ultimate prank for a dragon; to make the other eat something that had no taste. It wasn't that burned food didn't give nutrients; it was simply that the roasting – while making it chewable for humans – also made it tasteless for dragons. And when something was tasteless, it resulted in the instincts marking that food as "worthless". And then the instincts made up a taste for you to ensure you didn't eat the "worthless" food. Which meant that Artemis was probably eating what felt like the worst he'd ever eaten. And this was why Toothless couldn't control his laughter. The added bonus was of course the shocked faces of Butler, and eventually the younger Artemis, who decided to join the party.

Finally Artemis made his retort. Getting up and turning to Toothless specifically and eyeing the food. Followed by a small movement of the head that said: 'You eat.' This shut up the laughter. For maybe two seconds… Soon Hiccup began laughing again at his dragon's fear of food. Hiccup seriously never thought he'd live to see the day when Toothless would _refuse_ to eat food. But taking pity upon his friend, he quieted down and showed Toothless that there was nothing to fear. For a bit Toothless had a quick weighing of arguments, but his desire to try new food won through now that Hiccup had told him it was alright.

How hard could it be? Just down with it, right? He noticed there were some tools at the table, but not really caring about proper etiquette – not even knowing what the word meant – Toothless just grabbed the steak and took a huge bite. For a moment awaiting the moment when the taste of eel (!) would set in... But because of the low standards set by him, he soon found himself unable to stop devouring the meat. How could he _ever_ have called this tasteless?

Scowling, because of the short-lived joke and his own involvement in the first half, Artemis then asked for any sort of fish or raw meat. His stomach did the boogie as he did, but he knew that it would be the only thing to eat for a dragon. Butler luckily had some salmon which was served upon a dish at the far end of the table, so Artemis could crawl up onto the table and support himself with his front legs. Artemis looked down at the raw fish. Making a final effort not to think about what he was doing he scooped them up in his mouth. Quickly dumping them into his stomach he nearly regurgitated the food right then and there, but managing to keep it in he realized it didn't taste bad. In fact it tasted quite good. It wasn't a strong taste, but it was at least a good taste.

The young Fowl took in this sight from his spot at the entrance to the kitchen. While he usually dined in the dining hall, which had a huge table, for now the more enclosed and rather cozier kitchen served just as well as the dining hall as a place to eat. Sighing as it had been a long day, he took his place at the table. Soon the last Artemis, Old Artemis, joined the group as well.

The young Fowl reflected on the day with three words: unreal, exciting and freeing. But he could not reflect further. He did not have a lot of time. He hadn't mentioned that the lemur was already in the house, that he'd packed and prepared it for the trip to Marocco; if he did then the time travelers would most likely leave. And right now he still needed to get info from them. Throughout dinner he didn't speak a single word, simply eating his meal and retiring to his quarters at the end of the day.

Hiccup, Toothless and the dragon Artemis got by request a room for themselves, while the older Artemis got a room for himself – though Holly was probably with him in the room. While Artemis made himself comfortable – sleeping on the floor actually wasn't as bad as one would think – Hiccup took one bed while Toothless took the other in the room. Soon silence overtook the Manor. But elsewhere someone was executing a plan.

(Elsewhere)

Opal had drawn upon her excessive amount of contacts in the LEP to gather that the only female fairy in recon had recently been severely scolded for something only referred to as the Hamburg incident. Said fairy was supposedly good friends with Foaly (that ridiculous centaur! She would deal with him later). She was also looking for a way to prove herself now. But Opal _really_ felt in a giving mood… so much so that she decided Holly to be the one to receive the anonymous call… that would inevitably lead her to the ultimate prize.

"Hello, this is the LEP's call center, how may I help you," Holly's bored voice reared through the phone. She could not bring herself to care about this job… at all. Yeah, once in a while a really important call came in… like a troll being loose or something… but usually it was people who had forgotten they should not relax too much when sitting on the toilet; the molecular dissolver would have some interesting stories to tell, if it ever got the chance to speak. Or people complaining about police brutality when they had cracked a nail (Holly was thinking about a very specific fairy here; one as vain as you could possibly get). So between expecting to hear another variant of "Oh, please release my Boogie-Woogums, he's innocent" or "I am calling to say that you people need to cool down. I just wandered down Frond Road and a policeman shoves me out of the way because of a criminal trying to escape. I didn't even get an apology!" and getting a slightly chilly, slightly hysterical voice saying "This is an emergency. The silky sifaka lemur has been kidnapped. A Mud Man is planning to kill it!" Holly was suddenly listening.

"Repeat the emergency, please."

"The silky sifaka lemur has been kidnapped from Rathdown Park in Ireland and a Mud Man is planning to kill it. The lemur is the last of its species!"

"I will send dispatch, then."

"No, no, no. You don't understand. If you don't rescue it within twelve hours the lemur will be dead. It will be no more. IT WILL DIE!"

Opal muted the microscopic cell phone before sniggering. It was so fun deceiving people. A small giggle escaped her before she returned to the call. Holly's voice rang through the phone: "Calm down, Miss, it is going to be alright. Now, you said twelve hours, right? Do you know where the creature is being held?"

"Even better. I have the coordinates of the house." Holly shuddered. The sudden change in tone was noticeable and Holly should in hindsight probably have known better. But she was beginning to work up a rage. _A Mud Man is going to kill a defenseless creature! Not on my watch!_ Remembering the other end of the conversation she said: "Could you send them to this number," Holly said the number of the call center followed by her own numbers, so it would get sent to her. "Of course, dearest, just rescue the poor little scared defenseless creature. It must be so scared." Holly noticed the voice was back to the hysterical layers. Was this a prank call? No, it wasn't she realized as information filled her screen. "Thank you, miss…?" But the caller had already hung up.

The coordinates designated Fowl Manor as the target. Inhabitants: Artemis Fowl the Second, Angeline Fowl, Butler. Pulling up a file on Artemis Fowl she realized the kid had an amazing history already. Apparently he was some kind of super genius. Holly especially noticed the occupation which was listed as "Business" (when Foaly wrote business as the occupation it meant criminal). Another interesting thing was a recent purchase by Angeline Fowl; the lemur. It had apparently cost them 50000 euros. _So much wasted money._ Oh well, she wasn't going to be sorry for saving the little guy. And if it cost the Mud Men dearly in the process (50000 was quite a lot) then all the better.

Gathering the data and sending it onto the local network she made her way – willingly – to her Commanders office. That wasn't something you saw every day. Commander Julius "Beetroot" Root wasn't usually someone you _wanted_ to see and the fact that Holly was the one who was going to see him was even worse. Holly sometimes felt unwanted… more like all the time. She was the experiment; to see if women were suited for police work. The fact was she had just made a huge blunder – the Hamburg incident – and it had cost her some time at a desk taking calls. Mind numbingly boring stuff. Until now…

Holly burst into Root's office. The Commander was busy with paperwork and being interrupted by Captain Short wasn't anywhere near his "the making of a day-list". He was actually considering whether he should let her go. He had decided to give her a year, maybe two, but if Holly didn't shape up… he would have to let her go. The bursting into your commanding officer's office wasn't part of anything like shaping up – at least Root thought so – but seeing the look in Short's face he supposed he should give her a chance. That didn't mean she wasn't going to get the inevitable lash out: "What are you doing here, Short?"

For a moment Holly was taken aback; somehow she'd forgotten everything around her, which was probably the reason why she had without holding back rushed into Root's office, but upon hearing the gruff voice she returned to seriousness. "Sir, I request a mission."

Root's eyes widened considerably. Had the Captain lost it? Didn't she realize the amount of trouble she was in? It had only been like… what two days? And now the Captain was _demanding_ a mission. Root began turning a certain color, one for which he'd gotten his nickname, and he was about to yell when Holly interrupted him. "Sir, we have a situation. And… I would like to take this chance to redeem my past failure."

Silently Holly awaited the verdict. She had done everything she could now. If only Root would allow her to show him what the situation was… she was sure she could convince him. But first she would have to get over the first barrier. Holly dared a look... The color in his face was retreating slowly. Was that a good sign?

Finally Root spoke: "Explain, Captain." Holly's face almost shone with happiness. Then she became serious again. "We just got an anonymous phone call about a near extinct species and a trigger-happy Mud Man."

"Elaborate." Root was actually intrigued. This was not usually the kind of calls that made the calling center, but Holly seemed genuinely passionate about this. Unfortunately there was a small problem… but he would decide what to do when Short had finished.

"It is on the local net." As Root brought up the computer, which was currently catching dust, he quickly found the file. Holly spoke as Root read: "Artemis Fowl. He is planning on executing the silky sifaka lemur, the last of its kind, within twelve hours. Other inhabitants include Angeline Fowl, the buyer of the animal, and Butler, the bodyguard of Artemis Fowl. Do I have the go-ahead, sir?"

Root was considering. This was actually important. Sighing he told Holly the bad news: "Short, I'm sorry to inform you that Retrieval is on an important mission… and that they won't be home before your timeframe is up. I'm sorry, but I can't make you go."

Holly protested. "But sir, you can't be serious, the lemur is… the only cure for Spelltropy. Don't you know?"

"OF COURSE I KNOW!" Root exploded. "MY COUSIN... WENT... TO THAT ACCURSED SICKNESS! There is just no way you're going alone into enemy territory." Root paused letting go of his anger. It had been the ignorance from Short that had provoked it, but that still didn't mean he could be angry at his subordinates for personal reasons. But he had an idea. "That is why I'm coming with you."

Holly was breathless. "What? But sir, you…"

"I what? I was one of the best Recons, back in the day, and I can still put up a fight. A couple of Mud Men is nothing. The lemur is too important to ignore, but we must work together; this is a two-man job. Are you with me, Captain? If this goes well, I could reconsider your fragile position…"

This statement brought Holly out of any counterargument she might have had. The Commander was right of course, it wasn't a solo job when the Manor was so huge, but she would have to cope with the Commander. Steeling herself she repeated an inner mantra: She _would_ prove herself. Nodding while shouting: "Yes, sir! I'm with you, sir!"

Root gestured towards the door: "Then we must hurry and prepare." Holly smiled. She would prove herself. No mistakes. A perfect reconnaissance. That was what this was going to be. A perfect rescue mission could perhaps be included. And while getting to the surface was a nice change of pace compared to the last two days sulking, making another Mud Man sulk from a monetary loss was definitely going to be the best part.

Meanwhile, Opal clapped her little hands together. Her contact had seen Holly and Root leaving the office. Which meant they had taken the bait. Now she just needed to prepare the other side as well. The unconscious Brill brothers wouldn't be sorely missed, after all Opal had more than enough in herself. And she wouldn't share with anyone else.

The next morning came quickly. Eleven hours had passed since Artemis had discovered intruders in his home. The younger Fowl had been plotting half the night away. He was going to have to capture the dragon before the others woke, that way there would be no ties in their conversation. He quietly opened the door into the room holding three of his guests. One of them woke up as planned. He had expected a dragon's hearing to be more powerful than a human's. So he whispered to the half open door: "Could you come?"

Artemis heard his younger counterpart open the door and it was obviously him that he was after. So Artemis shrugged and complied. Meanwhile, he got to ponder over his dreamless sleep. Did dragons not dream? That was actually a bit sad. Artemis wondered why dragons didn't dream. Then he remembered something else… _I am using your imagination to do my dirty work_… _your brain accepted this information_. What information? But the voice was gone again. And Artemis didn't think long about it – he discarded it as sleepiness.

Following the younger Artemis into his study Artemis sat down in the middle of the room while the young Fowl sat in one of the chairs. "Finally," he said, "I've been wanting to talk to you."

Extending his teeth so Artemis could actually speak with his young curious counterpart, he merely replied: "About what?"

"About you. I got the story from Hiccup – is that really his name? Doesn't sound like a name, does it? – but anyway, I wanted to get the story from you too. And I wanted to know… how is it? How does it feel being a dragon? Is it different? Can you breathe fire? Can you fly? Do you know of other things you can do other than what I've asked you?" Realizing he was rambling, the younger Artemis blushed before looking hopefully at the Night Fury.

"I don't think I have much to add to the story…" Artemis didn't want to give away any information that might be unwillingly retold to others. He couldn't even tell himself about the fact that Simetra had probably also taken him – once every second – or the advice he'd gotten (which seemed pretty useless, but Simetra had warned him). And he most certainly didn't want to elaborate on Hiccup's previous future. But the other part of the questions… he couldn't help but have half a smile as he continued: "But you want to know about dragon lore?" Artemis considered it and seeing as this was an alternate universe, it couldn't hurt to explain. "Well starting with your questions…"

"First, how it is. It's… unnerving. It's like finding parts of yourself that shouldn't be there, like having a waking dream. Or nightmare depending on how you want to go about it. It is very different to answer your second question. Firebreathing… no, I cannot but Toothless can. Which means I should be able to, but without the proper technique I could end up killing myself. I mean, my species, the Night Fury, shoots a compressed fire bomb that explodes upon impact. The fire is so hot that the fire comes out as a blue light, the shot so fast that the time the fire spends in the atmosphere between the mouth and the target is less than one and a half second. So imagine if I tried it and it exploded inside me or something. That is why I must answer your question with a no." Breathing in, having had enough lung capacity to speak all of the previous with just a single breath, Artemis continued.

"As for flying, I have a disability." Artemis tried to control his tail, but found that he could only make it stop moving if he really concentrated. He couldn't make it move as he wanted to. But it was good enough: "As you can see, I'm crippled. The tailfin is one of the most important things if you want to fly. So… no I can't fly. But again, maybe you heard in the story that Toothless was flying? That was because Hiccup had built a tailfin for Toothless and as long as he rode Toothless and controlled the fin everything worked; unfortunately the fake fin was destroyed in the final battle." Another breath. He noticed Artemis was completely hooked. If dragons had eyebrows those would certainly be raised right now.

"Finally getting to whatever you missed… well, I'm not calling myself the great dragon expert – having only known about dragons for two-three days more than you – but dragons seem to harness their brainpower much better than humans. Every thought I think is about three times faster than what I would normally be able to. And I can sense everything much better… as you probably guessed from my immediate waking up upon you opening the door. Did you plan for me to wake up without the others waking?"

The younger Artemis was totally stunned so it took a few moments for him to realize he was being asked. "Yeah," he said inattentively, not really caring about the plan anymore. Everything sounded… so cool! Yeah, it might be unnerving – after all it's a body switch, what is not unnerving about that – but learning how to control yourself, being an amazingly fast thinker, breathing fire, possessing super senses, flying, and everything his future self hadn't discovered yet. And riding a dragon! Definitely something to think about... Artemis studied the missing tailfin. He checked out the saddle on the dragon. He smirked. He could keep his guests for a few more days… they wouldn't mind having some quiet time, would they? To keep the time going Artemis asked some more questions to delve deeper into the fantastical new area of reality.

And meanwhile time passed. Until another hour had vanished. Toothless began to stir. He did not even bother trying to wake up fast. He might have been more inclined to do so had it not been for the fact that images – images! – had passed through his mind, some more pleasant than others and he was having a hard time locating what had spurred that on. Why was he seeing images when he was sleeping? He decided to ask Hiccup – who was still sleeping – so he got up and after a few moments of imbalance, because of the drowsiness, he shook Hiccup trying to wake him up.

Hiccup turned around to see who was shaking him. For a short moment he feared what he saw – it was himself trying to wake him up – but then he remembered and he hoarsely asked: "Toothless? What is it, buddy?"

"Hiccup. I had images in my sleep. Is that normal?" Toothless asked, a tad bit nervous.

Hiccup stared wide-eyed at him. "Toothless, don't you have dreams?"

"Dreams? Like, I'm going to be the best sharpshooter ever?" Toothless asked confused.

"No, like… dreams. At night." Hiccup was completely surprised at hearing his friend didn't have dreams. It was something that everybody did, without being able to stop it, and yet Toothless hadn't had a dream till now? "Dreams are… well, they're images as you said, but images with meaning. They can give you clues that you don't notice until you dream it. They can be entertaining, used as a means of escaping the world every once in a while. Dreams are thoughts given images. And they appear every time you sleep."

"But they didn't appear when I slept from being discovered by Butler! Why is that?"

Hiccup smiled. As it happened he didn't have any dreams from that time either. He wondered why that was. All it had taken was a small prick in his stomach and he'd been asleep. Was that normal? "I don't know. But perhaps Artemis will know…" Hiccup finally noticed Artemis was gone. "Where is Artemis?"

"Probably out hunting for game." Toothless shrugged casually. Now Hiccup stared confused at Toothless. Toothless held the joke for about five seconds before finally giving in: "I'm just joking. I think Artemis is somewhere in this huge house, but I don't know where."

Getting out of the bed, Hiccup said: "Then let's find him."

(Somewhere else)

Holly Short was exhilarated. She and Commander Root had just exited Tara, and now they were flying through the early morning. The sun was rising and it was beautiful. Nature blossomed. Then Holly saw the first Mud Man residents and she felt a sting of hate towards these insolent beings that just destroyed nature for a place to live in. Who thrashed nature to see how it reacted! She unwillingly began speeding up which earned her a warning from her commander.

Though Root knew what Holly was going through – there was no mistaking the way she was flying and her facial expression – but Root knew he had to set her straight. If they were discovered by the Mud Men at any time… the consequences would be quick and fatal. It wouldn't do to fly so fast that they could be picked up by a huge vacuum. So they took it slow. It didn't take long for them to reach their destination, and there was no mistaking it for another place – it was huge. Fowl Manor was in a word impressive. It had a huge garden surrounding it. It had architectural quirks that were inspiring and somehow it also managed to squeeze in an ominous mood. Stay away, the mood said.

But they weren't going to. They had come armed and prepared. Holly was equipped with a standard Neutrino 1000, which was a bit old, but it got the job done. Meanwhile Root had taken care of his own personalized weapon – a water-cooled three barreled pumpgun with adjustable energy levels. Though the weapon was even older than Holly's it was by far the more powerful of the two. The two had an unanimous agreement that Holly would shoot first if push came to shove, and if it wasn't taken down then the commander would step up.

Trying to work out how to approach the situation – the house was, obviously, a house, which meant they needed an invitation for them to actually step into the house – they tried to look through the windows. Suddenly Holly heard something: "Hey. Come on." Two kids passed by the window; one in a ruined black suit… It was Artemis Fowl. It was definitely Artemis, but he looked older than he was in the photo. Because of this confusing mismatch of information, Holly didn't get to see the other kid. But then she smiled. She immediately contacted Root. "Target spotted. And I've just found us a way in…" Holly said.

It took no more than two minutes for Root to find Holly. "How can we get in?"

"I just heard Artemis Fowl state: 'Hey. Come on.' I've got it on tape. I think… we can consider that an invite." Root's brows furrowed. It was as far out as it could get, but they had nothing better and probably wouldn't get anything better. Sliding open the window that opened up into a small room, a bedroom by the looks of it, Holly slid in. She wasn't feeling ill; it had worked! The two kids had exited through the door at the other end of the room. Holly quickly ensured she was invisible – she still had enough magic, phew – and then she moved to the door. Opening it quietly and peering into the hallway, she didn't see anybody. Gesturing silently to the commander, she opened the door and moved into the hallway. She then began checking one side of the hallway's doors while the commander checked the other side.

The first door was just another bedroom. The second was what looked to be an entrance to a wine cellar. As Holly moved to the third door however, she froze. An absolute monstrosity of a man was moving down the hallway; he was heading directly towards the room, they'd entered holding a clean black suit. Both fairies threw themselves against the wall and stood still. The monster Mud Man moved into the bedroom. After a short while he came out again and moved in the opposite direction. Root whispered into his mike: "Good thing I closed the window." This was meant as a reprimand for Short to remember to consider all options. Mud Men showed up suddenly and at the most inconvenient times. Therefore don't leave conspicuous traces of your doing around. Hide them. Reverse them. Holly sank. _That was too close for comfort._

She opened the third door. As it happened, Artemis Fowl stood on the other side getting dressed in a black suit (were these things everywhere?). He was looking directly at the door. And then he said two dreadful words that made Holly's heart sink: "Ah, hey Holly."

Spellchecked! Except... does anyone know whether it is "the older Artemis" or "the elder Artemis"? I feel stupid. Maybe I am mentally retarded... Next up: Celebrating twenty chapters. Yay! Two days!


	20. Blood

Celebrating 20 chapters! Or actually if I had continued to write 2000 words per chapter this would be chapters 42-45 ;-). Thank you all for following this far. This has been the hardest chapter to write to date. I am writing this in the middle of nowhere (in a town called "Hov" which in my language means "Hoof" *huh* or "Oops" *laughs*) at my grandfather's birthday party and have had absolutely no time to write this. But I care about deadlines; I feel I owe it to you loyal people out there. So I'm writing this at 2 A.M. and I am finally done. The story takes a darker turn towards the end of the chapter... just bear with it. Suspense! To think you will have to endure for two more days. Hopefully the next chapter will have more thought put in it… I'm just happy my idea kept me going so fast (I wrote 1500 words per hour during this chapter; this is what it's like when a chapter writes itself!). Today's random statistic goes to: 1500 hits AND/OR 500 visitors total; teh awesomeness of you all O_O! Thank you for another review! Glad you like the combination. Hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . And whatever characters I may or may not come up with. To think I've written this twenty times. And thus I luckily avoided a future in which I got a lawsuit. Bonus!

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 20: Blood.

Impossible wasn't part of any Fowl's normal repertoire. Impossible meant that there was something you didn't understand and only one Fowl had _just_ enough self-preservation to realize that you couldn't be right every time. But it still pained that particular Artemis when he had to admit it; he'd had way too many of thoughts of that particular word recently.

However Simetra never thought there would ever be a time when he would think that particular thought again. _Impossible..._ It might be that he was near omniscient, but right now infinity was at work – and he still didn't know about that. He still couldn't move back through time to its creation and figure out whether or not a god was involved or something else. His machine which was currently telling him of the impossibility was showing him the outcome of the future of his sixth "special" experiment.

The machine was currently being destroyed in a fit of rage, while at the same time Simetra switched with another future in which he had contained his anger. He still needed the machine, but it was good to let out your anger once in a while. There was not a lot of things that could make him truly angry, but this… this was one of them. _It can't be…_

The experiment had proceeded well. Producing quite a few close calls without actually making the situation break; the switch-up was particularly interesting – the young Fowl was showing showing some very interesting results (that he'd already seen before and known of before, of course) – but as they unfolded, infinity had shown up to bite him in a certain place. And it wasn't a nice feeling – he hadn't felt inferior in at least 300 million years. Rage had naturally followed.

Calming down from destroying the machine he now stared intensely at the screen watching the events unfold. And he had no control over it! He… didn't know! He smashed the machine again and switched yet again with another future in which he hadn't destroyed it. And then suddenly it struck him… he knew what was happening. He immediately terminated all his other projects; the Artemis' all returned immediately with no memory of their endeavors in another time. With that done his undivided attention was on experiment 186540416… and his three permutations.

(Fowl Manor)

_How does he know my name?_ If Holly had not trained like her life depended on it to succeed, she would most likely have stood frozen for several more seconds; seconds in which she would be vulnerable. But she had wanted this job, not only because of the benefits (travelling over ground, seeing the world and having different tasks each day), but also to respect the memory of her mother who had been killed by the Mud Men. Therefore it only took two seconds – two valuable seconds in which the Fowl standing in front of her realized his mistake and tried to react – but then Holly reached for her Neutrino and fired two shots. They hit the Mud Man's chest, shortly bringing an expression of shock to his face, before his life went out of his eyes. He was unconscious. His body hit the floor with a thud, but otherwise the takedown was silent.

Holly panted as if she'd just run a marathon. She was feeling cold all over and now that the situation had calmed down considerably she wondered what had just happened. _How does he know my name?_ Root came up behind her: "Short, report! What happened?" He then saw the body of Artemis Fowl lay on the floor. "Good shot, Captain. Let's move on." But Holly was still frozen. "Sir… the Mud Man knew my name…"

Root must have been hearing voices. Because that statement was a potential nuclear bomb if it was true. "Repeat that, Captain."

Holly sank and said: "Artemis Fowl… looked at me… while I was invisible… and said my name… without a care in the world…" The Mud Man was dangerous. He was a threat to all fairies continued existence. Who knew how many he'd told?

"It must have been a random outburst. Are you certain he looked at you and not just at the open door and associated the sight with a memory of a previous lover or something?" Root scowled. It sounded far out to him even, but he had to be sure before calling in a red alert.

Holly tried to recall what had just happened, but everything had gone so fast. She hadn't noticed whether or not it had been specifically _her_ he'd looked at or if he'd looked through her. Beginning to calm down she began thinking rationally. Holly was a normal name and her commander could be onto something. Breathing slowly, steadily, she turned to Root and said: "No, sir. You could be right. I… overreacted."

"It's alright, Captain. Just don't repeat the mistake." He understood the Captain's distress and though they had both calmed down neither really believed that Artemis Fowl had had a previous girlfriend named Holly; he was ten, for Frond's sake, and what were the chances that if he had had one, her name would be Holly. Nervously proceeding forward through the hallway, not knowing what to expect, they began inspecting the side doors once again after closing the door leading to the room with the unconscious Fowl. At least there were now only two living obstacles left in the house. Though that wasn't exatcly a happy thought.

Opal was crying. Crying of pure bliss. So much entertainment was packed into this plan; only she would have been able to come up with something like this. The Fowl kid had now been taken down and it was time to bring in another player. The door bell rung at Fowl Manor… and Butler moved to take the call.

Meanwhile, Hiccup and Toothless was also wandering the long neutral hallways with portraits of previous Fowls looking for Artemis. As they walked in silence, Hiccup wondered what was going on at his home. Were they crying for him? Or was it convenient that the one person who would never act like a Viking in his life was now gone? Would his father dismiss him as a hindrance? Would Astrid remember him? How long would it take until they found a way to change the future and how long would the third trial last and would completing both even bring him home?

Toothless wasn't bothered with spending more time in a new place. But a new body? And a new time? And having one's every move scrutinized by some unknown person, only known as Simetra, whose motives were unclear? This bothered Toothless. And it was also weighing on Hiccup; Artemis features weren't used to sorrow, but Hiccup had been using them frequently when he thought no one was looking. And when Hiccup was sad, Toothless were per definition sad. They were two pieces of a whole, bond or no bond.

Wandering through the empty halls strengthened the feeling of loneliness. The only light was that they still had each other. Hiccup still thought about how Artemis could have gone through this feeling; this uncertainty of never knowing what the next day would bring and if it would ever bring him back again. Then Hiccup remembered; Artemis had also cracked… _Let go._ But Hiccup had denied him that. Now he himself wondered whether it would come to that with him… and if Artemis would save _him_ if it came so far.

Toothless was getting better at controlling his new body – simply because there wasn't much to control when compared to his own body. There was no tail, no wings, no ears with a 360 degrees rotating ability. It was only the mental aspect that puzzled Toothless and given enough time he supposed he could get used to it. He was used to using what was available to him so he had greater means to adapt to this strange situation… though he would do everything he could to bring it back to the way it was before. And so deep in thoughts both walked through the hallways, checking door after door.

In a room that was not that far away, Artemis was getting bored and irritated. Bored over relaying the same words over and over again to his younger self who needed to hear every variation, every synonym to every word he said before he was satisfied. And irritated because he could see the younger Fowl was enjoying imagining about being in his position; Artemis had tried to make it clear that it wasn't funny being a dragon, it wasn't cool… it wasn't cool not knowing if you could ever reverse the process, but his younger self was simply interpreting it as "you are just whining" or "I could be much better at being a dragon than you, even though you are me". So after half an hour of the same repeat questions, Artemis had finally found a way of dealing with the conversation.

With his crazy brain capabilities he found he could think of all the things he wanted to while making an autopilot speak the same words… and the young Artemis didn't notice a thing. At first he just experimented with controlling the tail and after another half an hour, he'd finally succeeded in finding the correct way. Then he thought of Simetra and some words again popped into his head… _it was an act of madness_… but they were quickly gone. That was when his thoughts went to the person he was speaking with…

And from there it went quickly. Artemis suddenly remembered exactly what was going on. _'It was a few days ago'_ he'd said earlier referring to 'the event'. But the day of 'the event' had been the same day as the day he'd kidnapped the lemur. And then he'd taken the lemur to be prepared… so was this Artemis lying? And following that thought he remembered exactly how manipulating he had been. It all fit. His younger self was deceiving them to know more. What exactly he wanted to accomplish was unclear, but it seemed as if the lemur – which was their ticket out of here – was being kept at the Manor. For once Artemis was happy with being a dragon; if he'd been human his face would have said everything, but as it was the young Fowl didn't know that Artemis was onto his scheme.

Said scheme wasn't anything small either. The young Artemis was planning on making everyone in the world remember his name. And what better way than to reveal the existence of dragons; he'd be the rider – he'd make his other self submit to him, how hard could that be – and from then the possibilities were endless. For instance if he wanted money he could break into any place in the world as there were no laws preventing his dragon self from stealing. Or he could use him as leverage to pressure world politics. And he could even study time travel as a viable option should he want to fall back to other experiments. And (yes, there was more) then he could exploit the fairies technology to do something about the island that was submerged outside of time and use the warlocks' power to command the time stream. In theory a simple plan. But... of course his adversary was himself. He was distracting the dragon with pointless questions that he'd already asked in another way. But the dragon apparently liked to speak so he hadn't noticed… yet. But as it was himself he knew he would have to do something else soon.

That something came in the form of outside stimuli. Hiccup and Toothless burst through the door, relieved to find Artemis and Artemis. Neither noticed the tense situation, the deadlock that was in the room. So Hiccup just said: "Ah. Uhm. Artemis… I sort of wanted to ask a question, but if you would like some alone time…" Hiccup could see they were in the middle of a conversation and he guessed Artemis could be extracting information from himself so that they may complete the second trial. So his question could wait.

But Artemis took the opportunity as a way of ending the conversation without drawing suspicion to himself. "It's fine. What was it you wanted to know?"

"Well…" Then the doorbell rang. The younger Fowl reacted at first by dismissing it. He almost gestured for Hiccup to continue – he guessed the question would be about the lemur, in which case he would have to lie, and was thus preparing a lie – when he suddenly thought of something. Mother was at a mental check-up in Bruxelles; she had sent an email this morning to Artemis Fowl Sr. It was not possible for Mother to come home this quick. And he expected no visitors. Butler was likely moving towards the door already. He got up quickly, suddenly panicking. If the young Fowl had bothered to think he would realize that Butler was armed and dangerous. And it would be harder to protect Artemis, if Artemis was nearby. But this thought never crossed the younger one's mind and so he raced to the front door to warn Butler.

Meanwhile, the other three were left in the room, shocked at the sudden departure of the younger Fowl. Deciding to find out what was wrong an unsaid consensus was reached and they began walking towards where Artemis had went. As they went Hiccup finished his question: "I just needed to know how we're going to change the original outcome of the future." _The dream question can wait..._

The dragon quickly pondered this and then answered in Dragonese so Toothless could follow the answer: "Well, obviously we could kill my younger self… but that could lead to all sorts of nasty things." He remembered the advice Simetra had come up with. Was it referring to this? "I would propose we save the lemur from captivation and we cure Mother. If that does it then I'll know I originally failed to cure Mother, and we will complete the second trial. If we don't complete the second trial from that then we can go from there."

Hiccup agreed. That sounded like an okay plan, though Artemis was obviously scared of the fact that he even considered that he might fail to cure his mother. Hiccup couldn't remember his mother but he knew he would go very far if his father needed a cure and Hiccup knew what that cure was. They reached the entrance hall in time to see Artemis catch up with Butler. His hand was on the doorhandle.

The young Fowl yelled: "Butler, don't open the door!"

Butler was perplexed. Why was Artemis here? He'd checked the cameras and it was only one man outside. He'd been checked for explosives and the result was negative. Even if the man was armed, Butler would easily have taken the man down with one arm tied behind his back. But now that Artemis was here he hesitated. And that hesitation became an opportunity for the outside party.

Damon Kronski had never held a gun in his life. He might be a crook, even in his own eyes, he might be having a vision not shared by many, but he wasn't a killer. But right now he stormed the front door of Fowl Manor as he heard Artemis' voice through the door. _Hold Artemis at gunpoint_. The command was so simple, so pure that Damon had no choice but to obey. It was like a goddess had spoken to him, a muse of destruction, and he had now opened up for all his anger towards the Fowl kid. And though the chance of him succeeding were measured in points per billion, that is exactly what happened.

The door was rattled of its hinges by two precise gun shots at strategic locations. Next thing that happened Kronski burst through the door with a hunting rifle (courtesy of some his friends) in his hands which was incredibly pointed directly at the young Fowls chest. Butler had tried to cover the distance to make a human shield for Artemis, but as fate would have it the first gunshot that penetrated the first hinge richocheted and hit Butler right leg. Blood splattered over the painted blue and white linoleum tiles that made up half of the entrance hall. And so Butler was unable to protect his charge directly. But he still had a Sig Sauer pointed directly at Kronski's heart in case he decided to shoot. The situation was not lost yet. But it was critical. His blue diamond was already lost – if this got out...

The young Fowl was suddenly overcome by grief. He'd done this. All the thoughts he should have been having, the strategic oversight, had completely vanished from his mind. He'd been distracted by the dreams of greatness, a common mistake, and yet it had felled him. It was over. At least he thought it was, but no sound travelled across the room. No loud bang. No sudden pain and no more blood except what was steadily leaving Butler's leg.

The trio standing with an overview of the situation, as they were standing at one of the hallways leading away from the entrance hall, were also stunned. Hiccup and Toothless was equally confused as to the looks of fear from the young Artemis and Butler, but then Hiccup made the connection. The device that the stranger was holding in his hands could make holes appear on an opponent's body. And a hole in the wrong place… and you were a goner. Was that what had happened to him and Toothless earlier when Butler had done the same with an equally weird looking device?

Toothless couldn't quite make the same connection as Hiccup – there was definitely something wrong, but Toothless couldn't place what – and so he stood still hoping someone would do something soon.

The dragon Artemis merely growled. If he got the attention of the assailant… then Butler could make the takedown. As much as the young Fowl deserved to get hurt from deceiving them – even deceiving himself! – he didn't deserve to die. So Artemis tried to tell the opponent (was it… Kronski?) that he was here and dangerous. But Kronski didn't react… which in itself was impressive. An angry dragon is not something you usually decide to ignore.

A stalemate was not something that lasted a while. And in this special case, blood was already flowing so there was not much time. Two minutes of total silence…

Earlier, two fairies were already extremely tense. They had checked the doors of an entire hallway and none had led to anything other than rooms. Rooms that were there to fill out space. Not really serving any other purpose than being a room. Typical Mud Man waste. Holly who had been calming was now again tensing. What if it hadn't been a fluke from the Mud Man? What if they knew everything about the fairies? What if there was an invasion going on right now? As much as Holly wanted to contact Foaly – they desperately needed his technological expertise right now; there were cameras everywhere in this house – Foaly was busy with directing Retrieval's mission. Root had commented with a growling voice; mumbling something about priorities. But they were alone on this one. Something that made Holly even more tense.

"Hey." A voice said from behind them. Holly drew her weapon and fired two more shots towards the sound, not bothering to check her target. Meanwhile Root had just enough time to actually check the target – which made him drop his trusted weapon in complete shock. It was Short! Another one!

The clone made a dive to avoid the shots which exploded harmlessly against the wall. Harmlessly but quite loudly. "Wait, wait, wait, don't shoot, you… Check your targets before firing, remember?"

Now it was the younger Holly's turn to be amazed. She didn't drop her weapon in shock, but instead her jaw dropped; something that made her look like she was 16 years old again. Her shield dropped as well. There were a lot of things Recon was prepared for; she had even kept her reaction even though a Mud Man had said her name, for Frond's sake. But this… this was in a different league. By miles.

The older Holly slowly got up when the air was clear. She was wearing a huge smile and the exact same suit as her. She even had the same weapon attached to her hip. She hadn't drawn it though. But there was one thing different. She looked… was older. Not by a lot, it looked like maybe a small decade, but the fact that there _were_ two Holly's… something was off. What was happening?

The older Holly spoke: "I think I have some explaining to do…" Her voice trailed off. "And it involves Artemis Fowl… like everything else does." The last thing was mostly expressed at herself. "I need you to relax and not do anything sudden, okay?" Holly then made a gesture to someone from around the corner. It was Fowl!

The younger Holly was almost at the gun again, but Root held her down. Holly almost screamed – a Mud Man was standing right there, while they were visible – but she thought against it. Had it been anyone else than Root and herself trying to calm her down they would not have succeeded. On second thought perhaps Foaly would have been able to as well. But as it was Holly was doing everything she could not to react violently.

So the older Holly quickly spoke: "Artemis Fowl has in the future saved the warlocks, saved the fairy race from extinction multiple times and… saved me as well from dying. If that is not enough reason for you – me – to calm down then just shoot us now!"

The young Holly mind was complete chaos. This statement was so against any of her values, so much beside herself, that she was questioning if this was an illusion produced by the Mud Man. But the sincerity of her older self convinced Holly after a few moments. The warlocks knew time travel so it would be a reason to describe this madness. The two groups came closer until they were just a meter from each other, slowly edging closer. Then Artemis spoke: "I realize this is an incredible amount of trust I have been given. I will not squander it. But I must implore you… we need to get to the entrance hall of this Manor. Something big is about to happen. And it involves you as well. If you have a single question each, we should have time, but then we must get going and you must put your faith in me."

Holly sank. What could she ask that would convince her? "Why did you save the fairy race from extinction?"

"It was a business deal. Your magic saved my mother from depression and my father from a kidnapping. In return we disrupted the plans of Opal Koboi who was the mastermind behind a rebellion." The sheer amount of truth in Artemis' voice coupled with Holly's own views on Mud Men as cold bastards convinced her. This _human_ was doing it for his own benefit. Then: _Opal Koboi?_ What was the pixie doing in this tale? But that question wasn't important right now. Somehow _she_ would come to trust _him_. Or what? Root had the same question apparently.

Root asked: "Short, why do you trust this human when he answered like this to the first question?"

The older Holly sighed, looked at Artemis, and back again. Then she spoke: "Artemis kidnapped me. He gained a single metric ton of gold as ransom. He then pays back half of the ransom back in exchange for his mother's sanity. If there was no hope in his soul, I probably would have killed him first chance I got. But… there are only so many things you can go through together before you learn to trust one another. And one of these involved that I was killed. But because of time collapsing upon itself – we were in Limbo, on Hybras – Artemis saved me from being killed before I was killed even though I had been dead. If that makes sense. The time tunnel connects people through magic and seeing him laid bare, and him seeing me the same way, we just trust each other now. Do you need more words put into it or are you convinced?"

Root and Holly looked at each other. They nodded in agreement. "We're with you… for now. What is going to happen in the vestibule?" Root asked as they began to move towards the hall following Artemis' lead.

_A lot of stuff,_ Artemis thought. How was he going to explain this?

Back at the vestibule, just a little earlier the sound of exploding walls, as Holly tried to shoot Holly, reverberated through the Manor. This seemed to set off Kronski. He suddenly seemed to realize where he was as he asked: "Ah-temis? What are you doing here?"

The young Fowl was dumbfounded for a moment. Why had death not come to him yet? No… not those kinds of thoughts. Rational thoughts were needed now. He's asking you a question. "I'm... home. What are you doing here, Doctor?"

At this Kronski began talking about hurt feelings and broken promises. But it sounded robotic now unlike before; like someone was controlling Kronski. And then Artemis got it. Fairies! Wasn't there something about hypnotic capabilities?

The dragon had gotten it as well. There was some _Mesmer_ going on here. Realizing that he could use Kronski's ignorance towards him, he said to Hiccup and Toothless: "He's not paying attention to us right now. Toothless, I need you to distract him by moving in a half-circle towards your right. Move about seven steps, that should be enough. Hiccup… you need to try and _Mesmer_ the guy. You need to use my magic. Do you understand?"

"I… understand. Yes. But… how?" Hiccup's heart felt like it was exploding through his chest at any second. Any wrong move and the young Artemis would be dead. He ensured that he was speaking Dragonese so it sounded to Kronski like more growling.

"Call upon it. Find it inside yourself. Guide it to your voice and your eyes and then when Toothless has been noticed, he will look towards you. At that moment, I need you to say something like "Stop." or "Don't shoot.". Can you do it?"

Hiccup was beginning to feel the pressure getting to him already, and they hadn't even begun yet. But he had to do it. It was their only hope. Kronski was escalating his own feelings through his rambling that was still going on and at some point he would release the anger within him. _Is the device like a bow? An ultra fast bow?_ In that case the aim should count for something. So if Hiccup and Toothless could just distract him… "We can do it."

Toothless began sidestepping. While he may not have a big role in the plan – it would be Hiccup doing the heavy lifting – his role was nonetheless pivotal. He too was nervous – what if Kronski would suddenly do something to him – but the plan was in motion. Too late for anything now. Taking seven steps to the left Toothless stopped.

Kronski then noticed movement at the corner of his eye. Looking towards his right he saw a person in a Viking outfit (what the hell?), another Artemis Fowl (_What the hell!)_ and a dragon (THE HELL!). But his brain was already backtracking towards his original target, the original idea, and his brain calmed down. On his way he looked past the other Artemis Fowl again – and hell broke loose through a single word. "Stop."

Kronski was suddenly in the middle of a power struggle. He was free to think. But his body would not, could not move. The battle only lasted for a grand total of 8 nanoseconds. It was simply nature checking which _Mesmer_ had the most magic left. Then the other Artemis' magic supply was depleted. Kronski snapped back… but Butler had already reacted.

Butler saw the others' plan in motion. He had been biding his time, waiting to strike and that time was now. Throwing himself on the man by jumping with his bad leg (Pain shot through him, but he didn't care about that right now), he crashed into Kronski. Normally the man would have been unconscious immediately. But something hindered Butler in hitting the man. An electric shock went through Butler and darkness greeted him like an old friend.

The trio that had watched this gasped as one. Well, as far as a dragon could gasp anyway. Kronski had just discharged an electric shock in the form of a lightning bolt which had swatted Butler aside like one would swat a fly. The mountainous man was unconscious before he hit the ground with a thunderous crash. Kronski turned to the young Fowl again and continued as if nothing happened.

For a minute the end had been in sight. But now everything was going to hell again. The young Fowl watched exasperated as his bodyguard was rendered useless. At least the blood had stopped flowing, the blood coagulating from contact with the air. But that was a small comfort. Kronski was reaching his end: "… you are young, Ah-temis. But you should have known better than to double-cross me with fake promises and treacherous lies. It really breaks my heart, but you have to know at some point in life… not all things are fair. Fairness would be a straight up duel. But unfairness is the way of the world. And you Artemis are about to make a great journey into the far beyond. Good bye, Ah-temis. I actually thought you were kind of cute." Kronski looked down the aim and then…

His body was lifted up through the air, the gun whirling through the air as he lost his grip on it and he passed gratefully into unconsciousness. Two figures were standing at the entrance to the other hallway that lead away from the entrance hall. One of them was wielding a futuristic looking weapon. Said weapon was pointed at his body and had just shot him.

The younger Holly lowered her weapon. That was close. Artemis had quickly explained what was going down in the hall, but being faced with the situation… that was a bit much. It had been a very close call. The Mud Man was about to shoot the younger Artemis Fowl (this one fit the description; time travel really gave Holly a headache so simply calling all of them Artemis as long as they were separate would do for now). Holly had reacted by shooting the armed Mud Man. Then they could always ask questions later. For now, the mess would need to be cleaned up. And explanations were definitely in order.

Upon seeing the figures in the hallway on the other side, though, Holly was about to go trigger-happy again, but seeing another Fowl stopped her. _Time travel…_ Holly sometimes hated her life. Why couldn't it have been simpler? Catch the bad guys. Save the world. Gain the fame and rise through the ranks. Now _she_ was going to have to deal with time travel. Still, there was a freaking dragon on the other side of the vestibule. That was a bit much. Or a bit more than much.

Root was whispering a curse, but Artemis had briefed them; only the Mud Man would be an assailant. He had not said any more. And as time could be messed up very badly if they changed anything, Root assumed the dragon was… friendly enough to leave them alone. It was a black dragon with shining, focused eyes, one blue and one hazel, just like Holly's. That actually calmed him a bit.

The dragon Artemis was relieved. Everything had worked out in the end; but it had been close. Recognizing the figures as Holly and Root, Artemis suddenly realized it was their younger counterparts. Of course, as Root was dead and Holly was eight years younger… that could mean trouble. Informing the others before approaching with wary, Artemis moved to his own fallen self. He had fainted. Snorting and moving towards the two fairies until they began reacting, Artemis said: "Do not be afraid. We are not hostile."

Holly silently regretted getting up this morning, while Root thought that this was too much trouble for a lemur. Couldn't they just time travel further back and save one of the first batch of lemurs and left this time alone? Thank Frond for the automatic translation, though. Deciding on an answer, Holly said: "We come in peace as well. We have a companion who says you are friendly and in need of protection. His name is Artemis Fowl." The dragon's eyes dilated at this. Which was the same as a wide-eyed expression.

"Very good. Do you know where and what he is doing?"

"He said he is getting the lemur with the help of… me from the future."

"So you are aware of the situation. How much do you actually know…?"

"Nothing but the fact that there are time travelers here and some really messed up stuff is going on."

Root was a bit taken aback by his captain's inability to speak formally when they were now on a mission… but he supposed he wouldn't do much better. Some things were meant to be taken with a bit of hippie attitude. He was even agreeing with Short's description, messed up stuff indeed.

The dragon replied by beginning to explain. No less than twenty minutes later the two fairies had been brought up to speed by a detailed explanation of what was going on that actually mattered to them. Hiccup and Toothless were briefly mentioned, but what was important now was the lemur. And time was not on their side. Artemis knew there was fairy involvement with Kronski… nothing but that could have protected him from the attempted _Mesmer_ or Butler's assault.

Meanwhile Hiccup gathered the three unconscious bodies with the help of Toothless. Checking on Butler and tending to his wound fell under the things to do as well. When they were done they joined Artemis for the last part of the story.

Root asked to clarify: "To get this straight… you are Artemis Fowl. The young one over there is Artemis Fowl. And the one we met briefly is Artemis Fowl. These guys are from an alternate past." An as an afterthought he added: "And Opal Koboi is evil?"

The last part startled Artemis. When had he spoken of Opal? "Well, yes, but where did you hear about Opal?"

"From me," said the older Artemis. He and the older Holly had appeared behind Holly and Root... and Artemis was holding a small cage. Inside was the lemur! "I told them about the rebellion very briefly. And Opal Koboi is undoubtedly evil and mad."

Holly suddenly froze. If the Mud Man was mesmerized by a fairy that had to have been Koboi's doing then. And Koboi… had to be the one calling up this attack through Holly's station. But why? She informed Root of the theory.

"Short, you… are right. It does make sense that Koboi could be behind this incident. Do any of you know what she would be after if it is her?"

"She is after the lemur," said a high-pitched voice. "It is the last ingredient of a magical make-up that will make me all-powerful. And you won't have any time to stop me." With those words a squishing sound engulfed the gathering. The younger Holly fell to her knees, a huge needle sticking out of her back. She then fell to the ground, getting more and more deathly pale. The older Holly only exhaled once more and then she vanished.

The older Artemis looked at the spot where his companion, his first trump-card, should have been. Then he said: "A time paradox? If you kill the younger one, you will also kill the elder one. But that's im…" Then Artemis dissolved into nothing, slowly at first, but suddenly his entire body was just gone. He had never even existed. The cage clattered to the ground with a cold, cruel sound.

Then suddenly Hiccup buckled over in pain…

…And meanwhile Simetra was finally remembering. Good God, how long had it been since he'd begun his search for this moment. The reason he couldn't interfere with his own experiment… was that this was… his creation! This was the original past... the original past and the original present…

… and when Hiccup got up again his eyes were no longer green. They were icy blue. Simetra regarded the room. How the hell had he gotten here? He saw the pixie, Opal Koboi, pick up a fallen cage before scampering down the hallway and around a corner. He saw Holly Short lie dead on the floor, injected with a huge leech that had sucked all of her blood from the inside. He saw Holly Short's commander Julius Root bent over her body in tears. He saw the Night Fury, Toothless, inside of Hiccup Haddock's body standing stunned, unable to comprehend what had just happened, how quickly it had happened. He saw Artemis Fowl, inside of Toothless' body, trying to figure out whether dragons had any way of shedding tears and rage building up inside him. And he saw that he did not care for any of these fools and turned around and left.

Artemis was shattered. The single most descriptive word that could possibly fit the situation was shattered. A shattering of innocence. People had been injured in the battle against Mordana, but not mortally wounded. This, however, was the loss of a life. And what a life. Artemis stared down at the lifeless body of Holly. Dragons were unfortunately unable to cry. So he did the only thing he could do; he unleashed a bone rattling roar, as a challenge for Opal Koboi. This was a time for blood revenge. He'd never felt so angry; he had… loved Holly. He had. And Opal Koboi, four syllables, had just taken away _everything_. In just three seconds it had been over. But Holly had suffered. And Opal would too. Artemis took off after Koboi. Crashing down the hallway, nothing but anger and blood on his mind. This was a time Artemis actually felt it wasn't a punishment but a blessing that he was now a dragon. Had he been his old self, he would have been unable to do anything. Which would have utterly destroyed him with no hope of recovering. Now no pixie, magic or not, powerful or not, all-powerful or not, would stand against him. Miss Koboi was about to undergo, in Kronski's words "the great journey", the one from this life to hell. She would _suffer_.

Toothless stared helplessly after Artemis. Root was still sobbing quietly at Holly's side. Hiccup was walking away behind him. Finally bringing the pieces together he turned to Hiccup: "What are doing, Hiccup? Where are you going?"

Simetra turned around. His eyes were like lightning and Toothless unwillingly took a step backwards. "I am no longer Hiccup. Nor am I Artemis. I am Simetra."

A single word escaped Toothless, but it was lost in translation. If it hadn't been, it would have been censored.

Simetra stared coldly at Toothless. "What is it you want to say? I will not give you twenty questions, but I will give you one. Ask me _anything_ and I will answer you with the absolute truth, to the best of my ability."

Toothless sank. This was Simetra. The guy responsible for this entire mess. What should he ask? His mind had suddenly gone blank, and yet a question found his way to his lips: "What… happened to Hiccup?"

Simetra stared at Toothless as if he'd gone mad. Then his brows furrowed. His face began cracking. Like a puzzle that had just been completed only to be destroyed again, his face cracked one piece at a time. Slowly the cold features became replaced by warmer ones. And his eyes… Toothless could see the battle between Hiccup and Simetra's wills battling through the eyes. The left eye was being filled by some kind of green smoke, corrupting the icy blue eye with a muddy quality. Not a word was being spoken and yet a duel of a thousand words passed between Hiccup and Simetra internally. And suddenly it was over.

Hiccup breathed in deeply. That had been close. But he'd managed to stay in control. How… he didn't know. Suddenly Simetra who had clearly been winning just let go. And Hiccup was now back in the seat of power, behind Artemis eyes. The first thing he saw was Toothless staring at him in fear.

"Toothless? Buddy, are you okay?"

"H-hiccup?" Toothless asked. _I shouldn't have stuttered,_ he thought. What if that would make Hiccup lose it again? Hiccup was in there… right? It was Hiccup... right? Right now his left eye was green… but the right was still blue…

"Yes, of course it's me. Do you really think I'd lose to Simetra?" _I probably would, but he gave up_. But Hiccup had been the one who fought back so he was a bit happy and proud. Then a voice in his head said: **'And do you really think I'd just give up?'**

Spellchecked version. I'm sorry if the objects in the story that are from Artemis' universe isn't translated properly. For instance, "Retrieval" was a word I looked up on the Internet, as my translated version of Artemis Fowl called it "the I-team". That would most likely have confused people. Hopefully other references have been translated properly, otherwise notify me or something. Suspense! Two more days!

Extra: In response to Daeron Klavik's concern with me risking the story by making progressively longer chapters... you are of course right. But... the challenge was originally meant to do two things. First I found it so fun to write something... to send it out and receive reviews and numbers of hits and everything; it is my first attempt at this and I decided to experiment... so the challenge was aimed to make me spend more time with it. It was also a recognition of my way of writing; I write _tons_ better under pressure, dunno why. But of course the challenge was meant to keep the"fun" in this, not pressure me into perfectionism (which I have a tendency to corrode into with the things I do - in gaming I had to get 100 % achievements, in books I read thirty across my summer holiday O_O). So here is the deal: From now on I am going to _try_ keeping the chapters at the current length, 7000 words. But only if it fits with the story. If I need to write longer or shorter then so be it. The set length is to keep a goal in mind - something that helps me focus. And I'll _try_ to keep with the two days deadline - but only if the story is ready. And we'll see how it goes. Thank you for the advice again!


	21. Meltdown

Wow. Real life catches up with you very suddenly, doesn't it? Suddenly, an exam! You heard me, an exam in ****ing March. It was in written English. And I think it went very well. The reason for this sudden exam was because our class already had the required amount of hours in the subject… and our teacher is a complete loony so she just sent us up right on the spot. No warning at all! But I think it went well. Just waiting for an answer now as to how it went. Meanwhile, I've also had to catch up on my social life; my friends haven't seen me in two weeks, because they've been on vacation. These things combined meant I had no chapter for all of you until today. But now I do have one! Today's random statistic goes to: 1600 hits! Getting consistently 100 hits per chapter now! Enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 21: Meltdown.

Opal Koboi was in a rare moment of _complete_ ecstasy. While her usual mood went from glee, maybe over a bit of controlled madness, to fits of rage whenever something didn't go her way, she had never quite felt like this before. It was like the completion of her perfection had finally broken down the last wall of self-oppression (if she had been perfect before, now she was beyond perfect) and she could now begin on an era of happiness. An era of pure bliss, a millennia of her greatness, an eternity of… her. Everyone would bow down to her and she would gladly give them the pleasure of letting them pleasure her. Everybody wins in the end, right?

And to think the simplicity of her great plan had hinged on such a simple premise. She expected the Mud Man to put up a bit of a fight, but he had interpreted her words as a one-man genocide, storming the house like a madman. Who would have thought? But even more insane… when Opal had entered the Manor standing shielded just behind Kronski, she'd wanted to explore the house to find the lemur. That plan had collapsed upon itself… something amazing had happened to her plan instead. As she entered the Manor… there was suddenly three different Artemis Fowl's, two in the entrance hall and one that was in the process of being woken up by another Holly Short. And then there was a dragon. It had taken her every bit of will not to immediately make a note to herself saying _'Dragons. A viable mode of transportation?'_ The dragon had a saddle and Opal was quite capable of putting two and two together.

The situation had unfolded like nothing she'd ever seen before. Not only did one of the Artemis' possess magic – hah, she'd crushed the feeble attempt at a counter to her plan – the dragon had even been the mastermind behind the plan. So Opal had improvised. Devastating the attempt to bring her plan down, she'd squashed the bodyguard's last desperate assault. She'd then whispered to Kronski to shoot Artemis Fowl; something that would undoubtedly bring attention to the entrance hall before she could scamper off and explore the Manor in an attempt to locate the lemur. She hadn't been able to find the lemur; even with her hacking the intricate camera system that watched the Manor at all times. But it would have given her time; Kronski even had three different targets!

Then everything had come down. As Kronski was shot, Opal almost lost herself to rage… how dare they destroy her plans. But then the dragon had explained everything; he was stupid. Information is power, true power, and Opal had done something she wouldn't have considered had it not been for her great cause. But now it would be necessary.

She'd killed. She'd taken a life. She'd picked up the blood leech from the lab in Morocco in case she would have the time to extract donor material for a cloning of the lemur. You could never know if she would have an heir at some point in time who would need the same treatment. But the needle had been used… differently.

It was a harsh way to go and for a moment she thought she would break down… but then she noticed she wasn't feeling anything; the norms of society didn't apply to her, she realized. Why should she feel guilty at taking a life? It was a life well spent in her service. And if it created chaos in her opponents' minds while at the same time eliminating the future – time paradoxes were real, it seemed – then all the better.

And now she had transferred the last ingredient into her bloodstream. The lemur lay dead in the cage… but why should she care. Her ascent to godhood was just beginning. Next would come the study of time travel and perhaps she could experiment with dragons' capabilities if she was bored.

Now there was just one last issue to deal with… she heard the roaring come towards her closer and closer, but she was ready. She would deal with the situation as laid back as a butterfly beating its wings once… and unleashing a hurricane upon the other side of the world. The side that still thought of her as not worthy to bear the title of 'God'. The dragon would learn its place.

Meanwhile Artemis was getting closer. The smell was intensifying. The smell of death; a perfume permeated the air like a trail of breadcrumbs leading directly to the last boss. If Artemis had bothered thinking about what he was doing at the moment, he would realize he'd gotten complete control over his entire being. Everything was directed at a single goal; the destruction of those hated four syllables. And now his instincts served as, not just an autopilot, but as a dominating force in him. Artemis had completely lost touch with the world, completely lost all control. And yet he'd gained complete control. But this thought never crossed his mind. Thundering down the empty hallways at a breathtakingly fast pace, he soon reached the end of the road.

Standing in front of him was Opal Koboi. Artemis' mind briefly returned, submerged under anger as it was, to think one final though – _I should stop…_ – and then he threw himself at the pixie. Who was giggling at his attempt! Artemis met a stone wall, flattening him instantly. Or as he now saw, it was an invisible wall of air as hard as stone. Opal looked at her fingernails, seemingly bored. Artemis simply let his body take the next logical step; he prepared a fireball.

To defend Artemis honor, the ball of fire actually left Artemis' mouth. The speed though made it seem like he was a broken tennis ball shooter. But when the ball of fire hit Opal's makeshift shield everything exploded. _**Fwoom**_**.** The hallway blew up, leaving only a rockslide in Artemis' way. Opal was on the other side. Artemis tried to dig into the stone, but the more he tried, the more he realized what he was doing. Artemis' mind finally emerged from the deep waters of pure rage, rationality setting in. At this point though… it might have been too late. Opals surges of magic could be felt through the wall as she began digging through the wall. The hunter had now become the hunted. Artemis turned tail (literally) and fled back towards the others. _Run… run away…_ Something inhuman was on the other side of that rockslide. Something truly evil.

Opal smirked. She couldn't even feel the limits of her power anymore. Ripping aside the newly created rockslide and creating a way through took three seconds when she found out how to do it; enough for her to just glimpse the end of a tail dashing around the corner. Fuming, Opal almost considered trying out teleportation, but then remembering she had all the time in the world, she forced herself to take it easy. Where could the dragon hide from her anymore after all?

Meanwhile, a little earlier, Toothless continued to stare at Hiccup. The expression of fear hadn't left his face just yet. Though Hiccup had just joked – it was definitely Hiccup, it was him! – he'd suddenly made a frown and then frozen. "H- Hiccup, are… are you still there? It's not really funny, Hiccup. Hiccup?"

But Hiccup was long gone. He'd heard a voice inside him and then… he was standing in a small room and he almost immediately recognized his workbench standing against the right wall. This was where he'd gotten the idea to make Toothless' tailfin. Why was he here? Was he… home? For just two seconds Hiccup considered if everything had just been a vision from the Gods or if he'd somehow travelled into the deepest reaches of his imagination, that everything _had_ been a dream. But then he noticed the mistakes.

For one, the room was completely different from what he remembered. Above the workbench a few pictures of him and Toothless in their happiest moments hung on the wall. And on the wall across from Hiccup, the wall that had usually contained a wall of stuffed animal heads that his father had hunted down was now suddenly a wall dedicated to Astrid. Pictures of her hung all over the wall. On the third wall, which usually had been the stairs leading up, was now part of an armory. Weapons of all sizes hung on the wall… but they were all rusty and dust covered all of them. The second "mistake" he noticed was that he was fixed to the floor. He could not turn around and look at the fourth wall, the one behind him. He was stuck at looking at the room in front of him.

"It's interesting, isn't it? Your mind, that is." Simetra had materialized in front of Hiccup.

Hiccup's brain was working on overdrive. But he understood the implication… "Is this… my mind?"

"Yes, it is." Simetra looked at him uninterestedly.

Hiccup thought of something. "But… what does it mean?"

"What it means? Hah, you don't even know yourself? These…" he pointed to the three sides of the room, "are your conscious thoughts, the three most important defining parts of yourself. Other people might have more sides, larger rooms, but you are currently defined by these three. One is your dragon "friend". Another is the supposed "love" of your life. And the third is your Viking heritage. The walls behind you, the ones you cannot see are your unconscious thoughts, your true defining factors. Those are the ones who have made you who you are, instead of remembering what you have been, as these conscious walls show."

Hiccup's brows furrowed. But Simetra continued: "Should I go into details about each wall? Very well, your "friend" is… one of your more interesting aspects, you know? You've somehow managed to look at him as both a friend, as symbolized by the pictures plotting the wall, and an experiment and a pet, as symbolized by the workbench the mechanical approach to him. This wall," Simetra gestured to the wall of rusty weapons, "is dedicated to your state of mind when it comes to your occupation as a Viking. Because you are rusty at everything you try that involves something Viking and you try to be something you clearly do not think you yourself are the weapons represent the courage that your father seeks in you, but which you do not possess. Instead you possess a different kind of courage… but that is for another time. Finally your "love" is the most interesting; you think so highly of her, and yet in return all she cares about is the sudden increase of interest surrounding you…" Simetra stopped his explanation and looked curiously at Hiccup.

"Do you know how easy it is to break the human mind?" The question took Hiccup mildly by surprise, getting exposed to this room was getting to him, but he answered: "No…" He tried to say 'and I don't want to know', but his voice faltered.

Smiling, Simetra continued: "Love is one of the most devastating forces in this world. It can destroy the human mind as easily as an elephant crushes a bug. For instance, I know your future Hiccup. I know your every future… and Astrid isn't easy to please."

"To exemplify it for you; imagine Artemis never was a part of your life. In the case you survived the battle against the Queen of the dragons' Nest, you would from then on be with Astrid. If we look at the outcomes statistically: The chance of you sticking with Astrid for three days are 10/10. This means that if there were ten possible futures, then you would still be with her in all of those ten. The chance of you sticking with Astrid after three months is seven tenths. And this is where it gets interesting." A gleam lit up in Simetras eyes, and Hiccup couldn't stop himself from hearing… couldn't stop himself from listening to the facts being coldly told to him…

"In one of the remaining tenths, you will have broken up with Astrid and gone for one of the others… what's her name… ahh, Ruffnut."

"WHAT?" Hiccup bellowed, shoulders sagging. _How?_

"Well, she does find you interesting… that relationship wouldn't last long either, but still you two find together, at least for a while. In another tenth you will have died from some accident or something else. And then there is the last possibility… in the last case, you leave Berk and human civilization to go with Toothless to explore the world. I'll get back to this possibility later…" Simetra was on a roll, and Hiccup was helpless; what could he do to stop this stream of information – something he never wanted to know?

"Meanwhile, the chance of you sticking with Astrid after three _years_… is two tenths. The chance of you having found your new "love" in Ruffnut is another two tenths. You being dead takes up another three spots; another three tenths. Something about a tribal war, I think… And then the last three tenths ends up occupying the future of you leaving with Toothless in exploration of the world." Simetra was nearing the climax, nearing the point he was trying to make and Hiccup felt that it was now he should interrupt… as to avoid the breakdown that Simetra was searching for in him… but he couldn't say the word. He simply let it happen…

"And here comes the final nail in the coffin; the chance of you sticking with Astrid for the rest of your life is one…" Simetra lifted his finger as to underline the one, "in ten _thousand_." Hiccup fell to his knees, the wall of Astrid suddenly flickering and blurring until it was impossible to see if there was a wall. _How? Was it… true? Could it be…?_

"Four hundred and ninety nine futures out of ten thousand possible ones lead to you being together with Ruffnut at some point in time; again, it doesn't last, but you still dump Astrid beforehand. 2000 futures lead to your untimely demise. Sorry to break it to you, but you die. A lot. And finally… I told you I'd get back to it… 7000 futures of ten thousand possible ones lead to you leaving your village in search of new adventures. Exploring the world with your dragon "friend". Did you know that the only reason why Toothless even bothers having you around is because of your ability to make him fly again? He feels like he is being held back by you, he feels like you don't appreciate him enough. He feels like you think he is a pet and nothing more. Like he is an experiment! And guess what… that's exactly how you feel about him! Do you want to hear more?"

Hiccup tried. He really did. But no tears would come. He just felt… broken. It was like smashing a tiny piece of a huge machinery and seeing the ensuing destruction of the entire machine, all because of that one tiny piece being destroyed. Crumbling…

"Do you see how easy it is to _break_ the human mind? Oh, and don't bother trying to cry, it doesn't work in this place."

Simetra decided it was time to uphold his end of the promise. Hiccup didn't even notice him leaving. Neither did he notice Simetra taking control of his body again.

Toothless was _still_ staring nervously at Hiccup, and seeing the pair of blue eyes returning did nothing to ease his nerves. After one moment of orienting himself, Simetra straightened up and began answering Toothless' question: "I promised you one answer, so I will explain. Hiccup is inside of me, I am inside Hiccup, and we are both currently occupying Artemis' body. The reason for this predicament is simple… Opal Koboi, the pixie that you just saw finish off Miss Short, killed the future in which Artemis met Holly. Artemis then continued to become me… almost. I do not have my usual powers over time… but I can still remember some things. That is the reason I am here right now. But at the same time, time doesn't like being rewritten, so Hiccup stayed in this body as if the other future had still continued. That is the same reason why you, he and Artemis haven't vanished into thin air as it happened to the older Artemis."

Simetra shortly looked at Toothless who still looked like he hadn't gotten it. "Oh, God, why do I have to get the slow ones?" At this Toothless sent Simetra an angry glare, but he kept quiet. He wanted to understand. "Ok, time travel for beginners. When you kill your past self, the future self dies. Any beings who are created from the future self interacting with them changes accordingly, like me, and in the older Artemis case... he comes from your own future, and seeing as that future has just been annihilated, so did he. Did you get it now? Good. Now Hiccup is still in this body and I think I shall let him have control… for now."

With those words, Hiccup emerged and found he could now cry. Was he nothing more than a stepping stone for Astrid? Could it be true?

Toothless quickly joined his crying friend in a hug. This _was_ Hiccup. "Hiccup, don't cry. We can get through this somehow. We just need to figure out how." Toothless didn't really believe in those words – the future had just changed, and yet they still weren't out of the trial, what did that mean? – but he was trying to cheer up Hiccup who looked like he'd just received word he was going to die in five minutes.

Hiccup finished crying. Toothless was right. They still had each other… but then he remembered '_He feels like you don't appreciate him enough!'_ Hiccup let go of the hug immediately and looked into the face of his friend. Was Toothless his friend? Or was everything built on lies? Hiccup nearly broke again, but then came a saving thought: Why should he believe Simetra? Compared to Toothless, was he not much less trustworthy? He pulled back into Toothless' embrace again. _How could I have doubted my friend?_

'**Easy. I told you what to think and you did so.'**

_What about Astrid? Did you lie about that as well._

'**You will never know, will you? You're lost in time. You won't ever get home. Everyone has already forgotten all about you… just like everyone forgot me.'**

Hiccup considered lashing out. Simetra sounded like a bitter old man. Had it not been for the final add-on, Hiccup would have exploded in a burst of rage ("What do you know, huh? You just want to make me feel miserable!"), but now… he tried to think of how Simetra saw the situation. What was going through his mind right now? _What are you talking about? Who forgot you?_

'**Everyone did…'** For a short while there was silence. **'You know, you really trust too easily. I could have been lying to your face, wearing a huge sign that said 'I cannot tell the truth' and still you believe me. Do you believe everyone like this?'**

_Of course I do._ Hiccup couldn't help but feel a bit happy about himself. Everybody deserved second chances… if they were willing to grasp them. Even Simetra. Though it might not be the best icebreaker to lie.

'**Then what about Artemis. Do you trust him?'**

_Yeah… I do._ Artemis might have a darker past with all of the crimes he'd committed, but Hiccup trusted him. Hiccup was sure Artemis hadn't told him everything, that night in the hunting hut, but Artemis had told him very honestly about a lot of things. And that was enough.

'**Did he tell you anything about what happened when the two of us spoke?'**

_Yeah… but you should know this, don't you? You're the one reading my mind._

'**That's exactly my point. Artemis didn't happen to tell you what future he changed when he completed the first trial, did he? Because I know I told him.'**

Hiccup could feel a knot tightening in his stomach. He hadn't really thought about that. "What… was that future?" Hiccup whispered. Toothless pulled away. "What?" he asked. Hiccup looked stunned for a moment at Toothless, as if he'd just appeared, but then he quickly shrugged it off: "Nothing, nothing." He then thought: _What was that future?_

But no answer came.

A massive crash blasted the thoughts of unfulfilled futures out of Hiccup's mind. Toothless also turned towards the sound; it had come from the hallway Artemis had run down. Root also stood up suddenly.

While he'd rather be caught dead than crying, there were some times when you couldn't stop yourself. He might not have agreed with Short's… youthful way of doing things, but it had gotten results. She had been doing the right thing, always staying true to herself; she was made of the right stuff, for Frond's sake. And seeing her lifeless body lying on the floor like a hologram thug in the simulator was enough to instantly send Root down guilt trip lane. Why had Foaly not given them any backup? Why had he not ordered Retrieval to drop what they were doing and take on this mission instead? Why had he been such a blind leader? It should have been him lying there now… that would have been the way of the world. The young one succeeding the elder. Root felt older than he'd ever done in that moment. So many years left of grief, so few years compared to the amount of life that was left in his Captain's body. Now that life had been spilt all over the murky waters of death and consequentially swallowed by the darkness. And nothing could reverse that.

But when an explosion sounded, Root was brought back to reality. He was going to carry Short's memory, he would get that stupid bill passed even if it was the last thing he would do. Women _were_ able to carry out police work. And he would put that pixie, that did this to his subordinate, behind bars for the rest of her life, and he would survive this mad mission. He would!

As one they turned, Hiccup, Toothless and Root, as a groaning Butler slowly began to return to consciousness. Hiccup moved over to help Butler get back up.

Getting hit by a train might have compared to how Butler was feeling right now. His leg hurt like hell, his body was still jerking from static electricity that was now discharging into the ground and he didn't know where his gun was (really frustrating!). But he could almost feel Artemis lying beside him, which calmed the bodyguard enough to open his eyes and return to the world of light. Groaning as he got up, courtesy of Hiccup, he noticed the fairy almost immediately. Butler almost considered retiring for the day when he saw the ears… but then the dragon Artemis came tumbling back again into the entrance hall and those thoughts lay forgotten.

"She's… coming." The dragon's eyes were lit up with fear. Whatever was going on was serious. Butler was on the job immediately. Giving a final look at the fairy – it was friendly, right? – he quickly stumbled across the hall and, opening a hidden cabinet, pulled out an SG 550 rifle for crowd control, an M203 Grenade Launcher for tank control and as an afterthought pulled out his reserve Sig Sauer; just in case the dragon was overreacting. "What is coming? Who is coming?" Butler asked now that he was armed.

"Evil is coming," he answered. Artemis had never felt anything like this before. Magic tinged the air. He felt like a freshwater fish trying to breathe in saltwater. Everything felt like it was shaking. It was almost painful. It was an outlet of pure magic into air; pure evil magic. But none of the others seemed affected by it. Then suddenly the feeling vanished. Just as Opal Koboi was walking around the corner, casually coming closer.

Upon seeing her, Butler pulled out the Sig Sauer. One target meant that the dragon was overreacting. No one person could be as dangerous as an armed army. But that was where Butler was wrong. Opal continued to walk towards them, not slowing down at the prospect of being gunned down. Butler fired a warning shot. No reaction. She was coming closer – Butler eyed the unconscious forms of Kronski and Artemis – and he knew he had to do it now. It was cruel that she was looking like a child, but remembering Madame KO's most valuable lesson – if you don't know anything about your adversary then you will not hesitate because of morals. So Butler fired a single shot.

The shot would have hit her right between the eyes with a margin of less than 0.1 mm. But Opal was already prepared for something like that. With a high note, the bullet ricocheted and Opal guided the ricochet to a very specific target. Butler fell backwards, the bullet now lodged in his brain.

Hiccup couldn't even scream. Everything happened in slow-motion. Every movement was slurred and unreal. He just stepped a few steps backwards from the goddess of war coming closer. "Odin, help us…" he whispered.

Root moved to pick up the rifle that Butler dropped – not caring for the lost life of a Mud Man right now – and he immediately fired off a single burst. While the two first bullets didn't penetrate the shield and were simply diverted into the surrounding walls, the third one hit its target. Opal went down like a demolished tower. The bullet had hit her right in the chest region – possibly directly through her heart. Root panted, gasping for air. Slowly getting out of the adrenaline rush, he moved closer to the dead pixie – only to discover why it wasn't just called 'powerful' but 'all-powerful'. Opal simply sat up and pointed her hand at Root. The bullet hole was gone; an illusion. "D'arvit!" he said and moments later a massive spear of lightning impaled the elf.

Root stared at the hole in his chest. He looked up again. Darkness began overtaking his vision, but before it was over he managed to fire off another burst… which was this time simply stopped in midair before being lowered to the ground. _I couldn't keep my promise_. _I didn't… survive._ Root fell just as the Mud Man; backwards, dead before hitting the ground.

Opal then turned towards the remaining two people. The dragon, that she had yet to try and dominate, was also amongst them. _Hmm, how should I give them the hope that they have a chance, before killing them._ Opal was enjoying herself thoroughly right now – Root's death had been particularly satisfying – and she found that killing personally wasn't nearly as hard as advertised. Taking one step at a time – no rush – she moved towards the group.

Toothless had been standing completely still with fear. But now he realized, he had to fight as well. It was… painful to see people, he knew, dying and if he was going to stop it he'd need a plan. And a plan did come to Toothless. He'd seen Butler's device making holes in other peoples bodies. He'd seen the fairy pick up a longer version of the same device, and it had made more holes. And now only the biggest of the devices lay on the ground… and Toothless picked it up. Whether it was dumb luck that he picked it up in the trigger however… only the gods would decide.

With a sound that actually sounded a lot less threatening than some of the other sounds the entrance hall had heard this day, a 40 mm shell filled with explosives toppled out of the launcher. Hiccup could see… in slow-motion… how the shell travelled towards the pixie… and a massive explosion engulfed her figure from head to toe, sending a part of the above room down upon her. As if the explosion, the smoke, the shockwave and the heat wasn't enough a bathtub was absolutely necessary to complete the artwork of war that Fowl Manor had turned into.

Toothless immediately let go of the weapon. Had that been him? For a few seconds stunned he looked at the destruction, then realizing he'd just hit perfectly – just as if he'd been a dragon again – he grinned. He fell dead upon the floor two seconds later.

Hiccup froze. An icy hand ripped the heart out of his body… or that was what it felt like.

Opal walked out of the rubble towards the last two survivors. Her clothes were shot to hell, but at least she held in her hand what she wanted – the heart of the human. She'd simply teleported her hand into his body and back. Simple. And demonstrating her power quite clearly. But apparently the dragon hadn't had enough. She squashed the heart in her hand and stepped towards the duo.

As Opal motioned to kill Hiccup, Artemis snapped again. Jumping upon Opal with his entire weight then sensing where her invisible wall was, Artemis jumped off the wall and fired a fireball whilst in the middle of a complex aerial maneuver. He landed on all four as the ball exploded… this time there was no speed difference between him and a real dragon's shot. And then Opal lashed out with superhuman speed towards him, but Artemis simply danced out of the way. He didn't even realize what he was doing; his body was driving him forward. Nothing filled his mind except survival.

Hiccup gasped. Artemis' eyes were now a pair of slitted pupils, no humanity was left in those eyes. Hiccup had fallen to his knees, the loss of his best friend too much to cope with. Did they have any hope?

Artemis instincts were clicking into place faster than he'd ever thought possible. Every time Opal made a dash for him, he simply avoided it. His flexibility and agility were allowing him to master complex maneuvers the first time he tried them and Opal was slowly getting more frustrated. Artemis then had one thought – _I can do this_ – which instantly cost him victory. He had been distracted enough to let Opal come one step too close.

Opal had at that exact moment decided it was more trouble than what was worth. And she procured a sword of energy, a sword purely made of magic, which she promptly used to cut off the head of the dragon.

Hiccup screamed.

And screamed…

And… screamed…

A…n…d… s…c…r…e…a…m…e…d…

Time was suddenly moving from slow-motion, into a complete shut-down. Hiccup looked around. He was still standing in the same room, still facing Opal, drenched in blood, who was currently turning to face him. But everything had completely stopped.

'**This was the reason why I don't have my powers… you… have them.'**

Hiccup mind was blank. He didn't hear anything Simetra was saying to him. He was as empty as a vacuum. Nothing escaped his black hole of thoughts that currently consumed everything in him.

Simetra tried again: **'So, you command time now…'**

Hiccup merely twitched. What was the use of commanding time? What was the use of commanding time? What was the use of commanding… time? Time?

_How…?_

'**There is a long answer. Do you wish to know?'**

_I… do…_

'**Very well. I think you remember what Artemis told you what I spoke to him about… except a few things. But one of the things he did tell you should be an analogy on what time looks like. Do you remember? I said it looked like the end of a piece of string. Time… is the string. My power allows me control over time as long as I command 50 % or above of the possible futures. Or in the analogy, 50 % of the fibres coming out from the end of the string. In theory this should be impossible. But… there is a loophole. Because if there is one thing that can always come… no matter how safe you might think you are… you can **_**always**_** die. That is why my control over time comes from the feeling of pure misery. Pure sense of death. I actually tried earlier to test whether or not you were compatible, but it appears you didn't break entirely. Perhaps you thought the love was impossible yourself and it was a simple confirmation… but now that you do feel true misery, you can control time. Experiment with it and have fun…'**

Hiccup blinked a few times. Tears were streaking down his face, but he wasn't sad anymore. He was… _So this is how Simetra feels_… powerful. No, he was all-powerful. Or even better… he was godlike. It would take him a minute at most to find out how to control this, and then he would save his friends… all of them. He just knew.

At first, time began starting again slowly. Then it moved at a pace, Hiccup could control with a few bursts of uncontrolled time jumps. Stopping time again – Opal had now moved three steps toward him – Hiccup breathed in and out and then tried again. This time it worked perfectly. And now he smiled. The angel of darkness was coming closer – and he would gladly rip off her wings and throw her to hell.

Opal was experiencing something weird. It almost felt like déjà vu, walking towards the last standing survivor. Had she experienced this situation before? No matter… I'll just finish him. Then he said something: "Stop."

Opal sneered. Well, she could listen to his final words if it didn't take too long. These words would be the start of a new era. First, she would force the Mud Men into submission and then she would live as the Queen of this world. Then she could look more into time travel… she was sure that if she just saw how it worked she would be able to recreate it. But enough about that; she needed to focus on the words that would start off the new era.

"What are you?"

The words took Opal by surprise, but remembering that the Vikings that had somehow switched places with Artemis Fowl probably didn't know much about magic, she answered: "I am the new God of this world. Bow to me and I will make your death painless."

Hiccup sighed. Taking Simetra's lead on some words that were most likely to piss this pixie off into the next century, he said: "I'm afraid that is impossible. You see, I believe that I am the one who is closer to obtaining godhood. You didn't get accepted… I'm sorry. You just didn't have enough power."

Opal's eyes widened. Was this kid fearless? His friends slaughtered and yet just five seconds afterwards he's all business. _Are you freaking kidding me?_ Then his words set in… _not… enough… power…_ Opal howled a shriek of rage that echoed throughout the hall. But the Viking in Fowl's body didn't even flinch. Staring madly at him, Opal whispered: "You will have wished you bowed down to me. Your death will not come quickly. It will wait for three months before finally taking you in." Opal then layered her voice with _Mesmer_ and said: "Your will is mine, human!" Hiccup immediately went rigid for a short time before finally giving in and growing relaxed.

Opal smirked. The cocky human would learn the true meaning of pain from now on. "Pointless. So… pointless." The voice came from behind her. She immediately shot out her hand and was met with being grasped around the wrist. "Oh, no, you don't. You look at me." It was… another Artemis Fowl! Or was it the Viking? Then another voice called from her side: "No, look at me!" Opal turned… and saw another Fowl. Suddenly she was surrounded by Fowls, all trying to get her attention. It didn't take long before Opal snapped; she released a bomb of magic, a solid wall of magic exploding outward, crushing everything in its path.

"Oooooh, she's angry. Do you think we went too far?"

Opal turned towards the sound of the voice and fired off a bolt of lightning. But no groan of pain or any sound came for that matter. Focusing on where she had shot, she now saw her bolt frozen in midair. _Time… control?_

"I think we did." Another voice said. But Opal had lost her sanity. She turned to the sound and screeched: "Now, I control time!" And to prove her words she went back in time to the point where her wrist was grabbed. She then intervened… but her wrist was now again grasped by the other hand of the Fowl kid, before she could help her younger self, who was quite surprised at seeing herself. Memories of what was about to happen filled the seconds-older Opal, and then… she vanished.

The younger Opal looked shocked. It might be she was a bit dramatic and could sometimes overlook certain things, but she wasn't stupid. What had just happened? Had she gained control over time… only to be beaten anyway? Impossible. She stared at the Fowl still holding her wrist. And she whispered, disgustedly: "What are you?"

"Would it be blasphemy to say that I am _your_ God." Opal made a noise of extreme anger; it sounded like a horse whinnying. Hiccup couldn't help but laugh, it sounded so funny. "I think you've had enough. It's time to end this game," with those words, time began moving backwards. Slowly at first, but then soon the actions happened real-time, only backwards. Opal found she could not stop it; something was commanding her to move backwards. And yet she could still remember the future that was about to happen… and she could see and react to the entire retracing of time… in her mind. She could not change herself from speaking arrogantly at the young Viking backwards. She could not stop herself…

She saw the dragon's head getting reattached. She relived the fight backwards. If you could even call it a fight. She relived the insertion of the first Mud Man's heart. She relived getting exploded by a grenade. She relived the fairy getting impaled by her bolt of lightning. Only this time she pulled it out of him. She relived the bullet returning from the second Mud Man's brain and into the gun. And she relived her walking backwards. She relived the chase of the dragon. She relived the rockslide. She relived gaining her powers, only this time she lost them. The lemur became alive again. She relived her escape, only this time she was getting closer to ground zero, her first personal kill. She found herself unable to stop herself as she reached for the needle she had stuck in Short's back…

But she couldn't pull it out.

And suddenly everything happened very quickly. Everything began happening again, but this time it was in double tempo. Before she could do anything, before she could even think she was already halfway through the extracting process.

Hiccup was desperately trying to control his power. It had been so close… but now it was malfunctioning. Realizing it was because Simetra had only appeared from that moment on, Hiccup tried to stop time again when suddenly Simetra spoke to him again: **'Did you also know I gave Artemis some friendly advice? I told him, that when he started playing around with time… he should be careful. Of course, I told him not to say anything, but perhaps the advice should have been to you… my young apprentice…'**

A massive roar erupted as Hiccup released the time he had in his hands. Everything was trembling suddenly. It felt like an earthquake was shaking the very foundation of the Manor.

Root got up from Holly's dead body. The Fowl kid, who was actually a Viking, was being embraced by the other Viking, he saw. "What is happening? An earthquake?" It didn't take long for them to realize that this was no ordinary earthquake; the walls of the entrance hall, the hallways, everything was distorting. Everything began bouncing like a wave machine had been plugged into everything: The floor, the walls and the ceiling. The chandelier suddenly released and fell with a massive crash to the floor.

Hiccup remembered everything that was about to happen as if he'd experienced it before. He quickly got out of Toothless' hug and said: "We must get out of here. Toothless! Grab Butler and pull him out! I'll deal with the other guy! You, the fairy, grab Artemis! This place is coming down!"

Hiccup and Toothless ran to the unconscious bodies. Toothless began dragging Butler towards the exit door, which was luckily still blown off the hinges, meaning Toothless didn't have to open it. Hiccup grasped Kronski in his arms and pulled to bring him out.

Root however, just stood up, feeling incredibly numb. He'd just lost his Captain. He vowed he would bring justice to Opal, but while vowing he stood completely still. Everything seemed so far away; a muffled voice screamed to him from far away; the destruction of the Manor happened around him, and yet so far away. He just needed five more seconds… to mourn…

Hiccup screamed: "Get moving!" Realizing that nothing was happening, he ran in again, to get him and Artemis out of there. The right balcony in the front hall fell down just as he entered again, but using what little control he still maintained over time, he managed to avoid any splinters. He got to Root in less than thirty seconds. Suddenly everything stopped. The Manor made a creaking sound. Hiccup suddenly got a sinking feeling in his stomach… He saw the younger Artemis' body slide over the floor… and under a nearby balcony. The Manor was tilting!

Taking Root's hand and ripping him out of his personal grief session, Hiccup began running for the door. He couldn't reach Artemis anymore… Jumping out the doorway, he only just got out before the entrance hall dissolved into a yellowish powder substance and was sucked into what looked like a hole in the middle of the air. Everything was sucked in: the earth surrounding the hole and under the hole, as well as the entire Manor. The driveway went free (luckily as that was where they were standing), but just a minute after Hiccup and Root had made their dramatic exit, a circular black hole hovered in the air instead of the Manor. A massive crater stood in the stead of the Manor. Hiccup stared desperately at the hole, hoping to see Artemis come out of it. But it was to no avail. They were gone.

Phew! Hopefully, that explained some things. Can anybody guess Simetra's second motive? Extreme amounts of cookies if you can! I've tried to leave some hints… but it should still be quite hard to guess. Oh, and this _is_ spellchecked! I had some extra time on my hands! See you in two days… if the chapter is ready.


	22. Rescue

The hardest part of writing a story, I've found, isn't the actual writing process. While the idea then is still fresh, new and interesting, it gets harder as the idea progresses. Where should you take that idea? When you've then finally decided on a chapter, decided on a progression, then comes the next step which is even harder; the checking. Because at this point you realize: _damn, I didn't say anything about this_ or _Have I already said this/Can I say this again/Do I need to hint at something happening in a future chapter?_ Even worse if you need to read it through multiple times… the words begins becoming sort of "neutral" making it infinitely harder than the first time around. But by far the hardest part… is clicking the update button. At that point nothing stops any of you readers from simply saying: "Guah, this is stupid!" And that scares me! But at the same time it's thrilling to see when you stick with the story! I'm getting addicted to this stuff! Hmmm… that was a pretty deep analysis wasn't it :-)? But my point was: Thank you for reading this. It means a lot to me that people enjoy this.

Anyway, I "blame" you guys for having me read the story aloud every time I have to spellcheck: It's probably the reason my vocabulary has expanded and recently produced an A in spoken English final exam. … O_O! Yeah… thank you all for that one! My English teacher (God bless her messed up soul) almost squealed in delight. I immediately associated that to Opal, for which I am deeply ashamed… hrm, and today's random statistic goes to another 100 hits (1700 hits now!) or breaching the 100000 words mark!

End of A/N. In case you're one of those that simply skip to the story. Not that I blame you. I ramble a lot.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 22: Rescue.

'**You know… things could be worse… much worse.'**

Hiccup stared at the tableau in front of him, the memory of the destruction of the Manor fresh in his mind and all he could think in return was: _How could it be worse?_

'**Well… time has had worse reactions to these kinds of things. Actually, the reason the analogy with the string is so fitting is because you can make thought experiments to make the string do the same things as what you can make time do. In this particular example… I think if you imagine time as a knife moving along the string. When time passes, the string gets weaker as it gets cut just a bit… but it doesn't break. However, if you begin cutting backwards, and then forwards again in double tempo… time snaps. Simple. And I'm telling you it could be worse… you merely destroyed time for a single area. And that area wasn't that big. Now imagine if you destroyed more than just one future… That would be a reason to freak out… or perhaps a time loop… those are really bad as well…'**

_Don't you get it? They're all gone! Artemis…_

'**Well, no, they're not gone… but you might call their situation a predicament. A time hole is a place in which no time exists. It's not like Limbo which is somewhere outside of time; it's more like… an absence of time progression. So where on Limbo, time has its own progression because it is outside of normal time, inside of the time hole no time passes. Everything is frozen, but that only counts physically. Mentally, they are feeling the progression of time. I should think around 100000 years have already passed for them mentally, though not even a single picosecond has passed in real time. What I'm getting at here is this… **_**you**_** can save them. But doing so could cost you everything. Bringing time into a time hole… is dangerous.'**

Hiccup calmed down at this. He could do something. Then a thought struck him: _Why are you helping me? Why are you telling me this?_

'**Because…'** Silence followed. Then: **'Tell you what, I'll tell you if you agree to enter the time hole. And then I'll tell you in there. Because at that point it will be too late to stop me.'**

Hiccup had never heard such a blatant plan to take control. _Too late to stop me?_ What the hell was Simetra up to? But Hiccup knew he had to save Artemis… so he had to go through with it. It wasn't just because Artemis was his friend… Hiccup felt like he had a right to know what Simetra was talking about when he said Artemis was untrustworthy. What had been the future Artemis changed? Thinking back to the battle at the Nest… the massive tail coming towards them… was that what had changed? Had he died then… _Hate to break it to you, but you die. A lot._ Simetra had said that… Or had the change happened earlier? And why hadn't Artemis told him? Had he thought he was too weak to accept his supposed fate? Artemis had something to answer for and Hiccup would get his answer.

Hiccup wasn't the only one gawping at the time hole in front of them. The sight was quite fascinating. A small ball of blackness, with a tinge of orange and white surrounding it. It was almost microscopic compared to the amount of things the hole had sucked in. Sometimes the ball shortly discharged a lightning bolt… or maybe it was the time hole stretching – an insect from the ground had decided to explore the crater, and the second it stepped into the crater it was sucked up by the stretching time hole – and you could see into the time hole as it stretched. A world of orange, green, black, white, purple, blue, colors all around hovering in formations that looked like stars dotting the sky, awaited on the other side. And then the hole retracted to its original spherical shape. Toothless thought it looked enchanting; almost like a light, and yet with some alluring darkness hidden in its depths.

Commander Root was more than a bit shocked. Not only had he frozen up for the first time in the last 168 years – it was almost like being back in the academy again – but he'd lost a fine soldier as well… and as a minor incident, he'd been grabbed by the hand by a Mud Man. That was a bit awkward, but he supposed if the Mud Man hadn't done so he'd be dead… or worse. The hole in front of them did not look even the least bit inviting; crackling like lightning, stretching to keep its territory every time something invaded. It looked… evil. Root wanted nothing to do with it.

Butler was also waking up… to one of the strangest sights he'd ever seen. And he _had_ seen the dragon and heard the story behind the dragon's friendliness. Waking up to the sight of… something looking like a black hole on speed, and having expected to wake up either in a hospital bed, or better yet Fowl Manor was definitely already up there. Realizing that the hole occupied the space in which the Manor usually was bringing this situation into the top two spot. Realizing his master, his friend, his charge, was inside of the hole, took the lifetime cake, the number one spot. Nothing could be worse.

Hiccup realized he had yet to actually feel anything from the return of his friends. He'd saved Toothless, he'd saved the fairy, he'd saved the bodyguard and he'd saved the assassin even, but he couldn't actually feel anything from his success. Why was that?

'**Because their lives suddenly feel worthless… Welcome to my world, kid. When you got control over everything… nothing is more than a single travel away.'**

_Who are you calling a kid? Aren't you my age? And what is up with the depression… you go from cruel and cold to feeling so miserable I can't help but feel sorry for you. What's wrong?_

'**Heh… if you only knew… And as for calling you a kid: I have lived for seven thousand googolplexes of years now, by dragging out time as much as possible. And whilst I have "only" lived sixteen years in real-time I think I still maintain the right to call you a kid. In case you don't know what a googol is it's a one with a hundred zeroes following. And a googolplex… is a googol multiplied by a googol a googol times. And of course, there are some straggling millions of years to either side, but that should give you a good idea of what you're thinking is the same age as you.'**

Trying to grasp big numbers never was Hiccup's strong suit. All he could gather was that the number was exceptionally large (which it was… if you were talking about some_ straggling_ millions you were definitely on the wrong side of "old"! At least Hiccup knew how much a million was; it was one of the largest numbers he knew and… _straggling_ millions! What the Hel). But still… having lived for such an extended period of time… how could anyone handle that? Watching time simply… pass by, had to be harsh, didn't it?

'**Oh, so you think you **_**understand**_** me now, do you? That's rich! Well, if it makes you move your lazy behind into that portal, then by all means, think of me as some kind of ancient being, who has completely lost it. As long as you get a move on!'**

Hiccup snapped out of his thoughts; he turned to the others. "Are you guys… okay?" he asked. He still could not feel anything, but he tried not to let it show in his voice.

Surprised by the sincerity of the question, Toothless was the first to answer: "Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

Root shook his head, thinking of Holly, while Butler who had now joined the group to look at the strange phenomenon simply waved off the question. He was trying to figure out some way of getting into the hole… perhaps a rope tying you to the outside while he jumped inside could do the trick. _Hang on, Artemis, I'm coming._

"Well… you all… died…" Hiccup was mumbling, but there was almost no wind, and the words could clearly be heard. "What?"

"It's my fault that the Manor was…" Hiccup tried again. "I found out how to control time after you had all died… but because I wasn't very good at it the Manor collapsed. It's my fault so… I should be the one to get back Artemis!" Hiccup finished trying to convince himself that things were going to be all right. He did still have some control over time, didn't he?

'**Do you feel miserable enough to control time? Or do you need my help again?'**

_At feeling miserable? No thanks._

"I cannot allow you to go. It is too dangerous… was it, Hiccup? We should regroup and do some tests on this, this thing… if we should even _try_ to touch it. I say… that Opal Koboi has been brought to justice. That it was on another Mud Man's tab is regrettable, but nonetheless we shouldn't spite their memory by having a suicidal rescue mission into who-knows-where." Root felt like this whole affair had come to a sort of closure… Opal was gone, the dragon was gone, everything abnormal was gone except the hole. And the hole could be disguised. He pretended he didn't hear something about controlling time from Hiccup. That was too far out.

"You don't understand, do you? Artemis is in there, waiting for us. Every second in there should feel like a thousand years or more passing, while in reality no time is passing at all. Do you really wish that kind of punishment on anyone? And an innocent no less."

"Artemis Fowl is not an innocent civilian. He is a criminal and getting rid of him should be good for this world. Perhaps… we can have a cleaner future. One without all of… this." He gestured to the hole. "Or for that matter… body switching. It sounds like bogus, and if it wasn't for your extremely convincing explanation, I think I'd have dropped this a long time ago. My point is that all of the casualties here… are acceptable. Short," Root's eyes became saddened, "certainly did not deserve to die nor was her death "acceptable"… but her killer has been brought to justice, and with that a terrible threat was also buried. And seeing as both the dragon and the kid are the same and both are criminals…" Root went out like a light under a massive hand.

Butler looked up with a glint in his eyes. He really didn't like the fairy calling his master a criminal; judging him before he'd had a chance to get to know him. "I think you should go before he wakes up." He winked. "Artemis is… a special sort of… criminal if you have to call him that. I think you understand what I mean."

Hiccup nodded. Artemis could be cold and cruel like Simetra… but he could also be protective and friendly. _But do I feel miserable enough to go through with this?_

'**Do you want me to answer that?'**

_Actually, I do._

'**Well then. I don't think you are quite miserable enough. Too much normalcy, too much friendliness around you and too many "good intentions". Simply put, if you go now you'll get caught by the time hole and we'll be no better off.'**

_Then what should we do._

'**We? There is no we.'** _Hypocrite, you just said…_** 'There is just you and seeing as **_**you**_** want to feel miserable… I'll gladly help you. Hmm, what should you find out… oh, yes, there's a good one; do you remember how I told you that seven thousand of your futures lead to you "exploring the world with your dragon". Well, in about 4000 of those you both die on your travels. In 1500 futures your dragon "friend" dies; he's too overprotective for his own good. You then spend the rest of life trying to get back to Berk… some with positive results but most with negative results. In another 1500 futures you end up having explored everything and decide to return to Berk where you live the rest of your lives together, aww, so sweet. And as for the last one thousand… let's just say some interesting stuff happens. You really are destined for weirdness, you know? Do you want to know more? Or was that enough?'**

Hearing how many failures there were compared to successes was a bit harsh. Hearing Simetra mock him for his few successes were also a bit harsh, but combined they didn't really give a feeling of pure misery. _I think you need to continue. Can't believe I just thought that._

'**You could also just kill one of your "friends". Might make it easier for misery to come your way, eh? No? Then, continuing, during those last 1000 futures there are a few options on the weirder end. In 200 of the futures you turn into a dragon through one way or another and you never return to Berk. As you cannot fly Toothless anymore, you spend the rest of your days together, unable to move from that spot. It takes about 10000 years before madness overtakes you.'** Hiccup made a weird spluttering noise. _What?_

'**Don't interrupt.** **400 futures goes to your dragon "friend" turning into a human, again the details are very mixed. It can come from just about anything. In this case, you are both grounded and you spend the rest of your lives trying to find your way home… a task you never succeed in. 200 futures leads to you never returning to Berk as you find a dragon colony and decide to move in. This lasts for between one and five years before you are killed and Toothless moves on forgetting about you, as he has found a mate.'** Hiccup trembled once before Simetra continued.

'**Saving the best for last… the predicament you're in right now isn't even one of my most original ideas… because you two manage to switch places somehow during the last 200 futures. Now that is just weird. And as the weirdness magnet you are, combined with miserable luck, you end up failing to return home in 198 cases of those 200. The last two… ends up with your father killing you for blasphemy; there are only so much an old Viking can take from previous enemies, you know?'**

Hiccup snorted. He wasn't really feeling more miserable than before. Had this all been a ruse? Just to make Simetra gloat about his intimate knowledge of him? _Did you have a point?_

'**Actually, I did. I don't think words are any good for making you feel miserable, you seem to have an immunity to those kinds of methods. But misery can come from a lot of things… loss, pain, love… and by far the most powerful feeling of misery comes from loneliness. The feeling of being alone with no end in sight. I should know… and I think you need a reminder.'**

Suddenly Hiccup was locked up in his own mind again and Simetra had taken control. Hiccup tried to focus; perhaps he could now hear Simetra's thoughts. But this proved fruitless as he did not know what he was looking for. He tried again to look around in his mind room, but still only the three walls showed themselves. One was still blurry… _Astrid_… but the pictures had returned. Perhaps that was because he, despite everything, still had hope. One in ten thousand. Not the best odds… but odds nonetheless. Simetra was right; words weren't enough to break Hiccup. It might be close, it might appear he'd broken, but not quite. He was a tough one to break; his Viking heritage actually doing him some good. His abuse of being the outsider finally giving him an advantage as he'd been exposed to a bit of everything. Then suddenly he returned to the outside world as Simetra relinquished control.

_What… did you do?_

Hiccup was met with the sight of… himself. He was confronting Opal in the moment that she had cut off Artemis' head. Reliving this particular memory brought back the darkness he needed to make Simetra's power work. Seeing his dead friends did wonders to his feelings of misery. And knowing that he had screwed up even when he knew he was walking a dangerous line. He'd lost his time control when he'd almost been home free. But it had been so… intoxicating. So much power and he'd even had a person whom Hiccup absolutely hated to use that power on. It had been very satisfying… feeling godlike. And yet it was still a miserable feeling, born of the death of his friends.

Ambivalence had ruled Hiccup in those moments. Simetra had told him everything he should say to piss the other one off even more. And he'd enjoyed it. But his friends lay dead and he was all alone… he hated it. Torn apart between these two feelings, Hiccup had gotten an immense power boost. And now part of that boost returned to him. _I'm ready._

'**About time. Oh, yeah, by the way don't try to read **_**my**_** mind. I will hunt you down a million times over if you do that again.'** _I'll remember that… as long as you tell me your reason when we've entered the time hole._ Hiccup transported himself back to the time he'd just left.

Butler blinked in that moment and never even noticed Hiccup had left. Getting impatient, he could stand it no longer: "Are you going to go? Or… have you changed your mind?" Butler was still a bit iffy about the situation; putting the load on someone else's shoulders wasn't good for his CV, but time control… he'd leave that to someone who knew about such things. And apparently Hiccup knew about this stuff. He hoped.

"Yeah… I'm ready." Toothless looked concernedly at him, but he merely closed his eyes and sank. This was something Hiccup had to alone. Why was he left feeling helpless? Definitely one of the bad aspects of humanity; inability to actually _do_ anything. Why was he left… alone… but now it was too late.

Hiccup had walked over the edge of the crater… over the edge of the crater… an endless loop beginning… to repeatedly play again… and again… and again… **'What the hell are you doing? Use your power, for God's sake!'**… and again… _How?_... and again… **'Misery. Let it consume you and then instead of stepping over the edge…'** ... and again… **'Step towards the time hole!'** … and aga- Hiccup froze in midair. Using his hands to try and balance his way through the air (he couldn't even begin to imagine how silly he must have been looking in that moment), he then swam through the air… towards the hole. And entered it.

Butler merely noted Hiccup falling into the time hole that reacted just like it always did: It stretched out to consume Hiccup. Butler silently prayed to whatever God might listen in at the moment. _Please bring them back in one piece_. He then looked at the other kid and manning up he said: "I think we should step back. Can you help me bring these bodies a little away from… the crater?"

Toothless looked at the man and smiled. He might not speak English yet, but he certainly understood what was being said. And doing something would at least pass the time…

…Time was something that was not in Hiccup's favor. He was currently being mindfucked by the most crazy images and colors he'd ever been exposed to. As far as he could tell he was standing in the Manor's entrance hall, as if he'd entered the Manor completely normally. But that was the end of ordinariness. Flickering every second – that didn't actually exist physically, but felt like it was existing – the Manor's color scheme was constantly changing. Suddenly in a psychedelic world where all colors were pink, purple and pastel green. Suddenly all the colors turning negative. Suddenly complete darkness. Suddenly… and so on.

Another thing was the build of the Manor. No longer was it built on solid ground; it was floating through the time hole. The blue and white linoleum tiles that made up half of the entrance hall for instance… they were floating apart from each other, and you could look – and possibly even fall – through them and see the true expand of the time hole from the inside. Hiccup was getting sicker by the minute – though no time existed here, only mentally.

Taking an experimental step forward he noticed it was like moving through water. Or something thicker than water. It was like the very air was trying to keep him from moving. But pushing through, keeping a tight grip on his current control over time, Hiccup began walking towards the hallway stepping over the destroyed entrance hall as he went. He was exploring where Artemis could be. He felt a nagging feeling he'd forgotten something… but he had decided to find Artemis first.

Moving down the empty hallways of Fowl Manor while time was completely halted was a feeling of possibly even more loneliness and emptiness than Hiccup had felt earlier when he walked the same hallways with Toothless. Granted, now he was alone and before he hadn't been. But still, the feeling of _extreme_ emptiness was getting to him… and it had only been five minutes! It was not hard keeping the feeling of pure misery in this place. It practically oozed eternal torture.

A single second earlier, but about 30 million years earlier mentally speaking, in a hallway not that far away, Artemis entered the time hole with Opal. It had gone so fast. Artemis had just fired his first fireball… and then everything stopped and yet everything continued to pass. Artemis was frozen in this position, assaulted by colors and lights and memories… _your punishment only lasts for 24 hours… the moment the first one of you wakes up_… what? Was that seriously something he'd heard from Simetra? The irony was not lost on Artemis… now that it didn't matter, now that time had seemingly stopped, now did he remember how long the punishment lasted. But actually knowing that it was not permanent calmed him down… for the first year or so… Time passed…

It passed slowly sometimes. Sometimes when Artemis was trying to remember what had happened 10000 years ago; something about a battle… love… revenge… friends? Did he have any friends? Had he ever felt love…? What was revenge actually?

It passed by quickly at other times. At these "other times" Artemis suddenly found that the pattern of the colors had changed – or the pattern of the pattern of color changes – and Artemis could spend years analyzing from his extreme senses every detail in every color. He began seeing the world as it really was… numbers, data, colors, waves, information, truth… and soon a million years had passed with Artemis juggling greater and greater mathematical problems. He'd invented twenty-one different mathematical systems – each with their own ultimate truth – and he was now working on the twenty-second. Time passed so quickly, on those days…

It passed by irregularly also. It could go from top speed to in reverse almost, in just two seconds. Or as much as two seconds felt like in this place; Artemis had spent the first three thousand years figuring out and reflecting upon everything that had ever happened to him. He had the memory to do so… and the time. But still another million years passed… and another… and another…

Opal had tried just about everything. She had tried to commit suicide with her magic, for Frond's sake. She'd expulsed her magic trying to use it to generate time. But nothing, nothing worked in this realm. Everything she'd strived for, the all-powerful her and the perfect world, everything had clattered onto the ground with an extremely quiet sound. A sound that continuously grew louder in her head. Her hopes continued to drop as the next million years passed… perhaps it would be an adventure to go mad? Should she try it? _Well, nothing better to do, I suppose…_

Artemis hadn't gone mad. Not in one million years. Not in ten million years. Not in twenty nine million nine hundred and ninety seven thousand three hundred and six years. But he _had_ grown bored. There were no more mathematical systems to invent. There were no more physics, no more chemistry, no more sociolinguistics, no more good and no more evil. There was only the study of nothingness left… and this was something that puzzled Artemis. Finally there was a challenge. Nothing seemed to be just as interesting as infinity – he expected Simetra to find out infinity before him – but if he found out nothingness then they could share notes, maybe… who was Simetra anyway? Trying to recall the memory, but failing sadly, Artemis' mind soon passed out into the sand… nearly.

Something was moving… moving? …movement? Velocity = 1.489654… m/s. Position = 24.54333 m and closing the distance. Time of arrival = 16.4759 s and counting. Perspective/ Angular triangulation = … "Artemis? Is that you?" Artemis stopped for a moment and then continued.

Information = waves coupled with electrical impulses through the brain. Type = sound. Linguistics = undetermined. Language = undetermined. Source = … Hiccup? Artemis struggled at containing the information overload that Hiccup had suddenly brought into his world. _Who is… Hiccup is… my friend? Am I being… rescued?_ Artemis could not say anything, courtesy of the time stop, but suddenly he felt life return to his limbs. He realized… Hiccup was bringing time into the time stop. Simetra… Hiccup… the same… futures colliding. Artemis had deduced the entire thing in the time it took Hiccup to reach Artemis. And for the first time in a long time, in an entire second actually, Artemis moved.

Hiccup looked sadly at his friend. There was almost no recognition in his eyes… but there was some. There was still hope. "Artemis? Answer me, please."

"Hic…" It was barely a whisper, but Artemis hadn't used his voice in a single… or more like thirty seconds now that time had started moving again. "I'm… alive…?"

"Yes! Of course you're alive, you numbskull. We must get out of here. Come on! Follow me." Hiccup was so thoroughly happy that he forgot he'd just insulted Artemis. Artemis was still alive! Now they just needed to get back.

"Punishment…?"

Hiccup stopped and looked at Artemis. Was Artemis considering if he had been issued this _place_ as a punishment or was he talking about him being a dragon? "Of course not, Artemis. I came as fast as I could… but it seems I should have hurried up. I'm… sorry. Can you forgive me?"

"Forgiveness…?"

"Can you?" Hiccup looked pleading at Artemis. Was Artemis blaming him? It would be perfectly reasonable… but Hiccup also needed to ask Artemis something. But that could wait for later.

Artemis looked at his… friend? Could he… forgive him? What was it forgiveness meant? Wasn't it something untrue… something with subjective value? Something… untrue… and yet… socially acceptable… and considered… good? "Hic… forgiveness… yes…"

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Artemis. Now, can we get out of here?"

Artemis looked at his… friend? He wanted to… the punishment… talk… it was 24 hours. He'd lasted 14 or something, but looking at Hiccup… about the punishment… he didn't know? Hiccup needed to know!

"N-no…?" Artemis stopped. What was it he wanted to say? Hours had value… truth held absolute value… punishment was bad… evil was subjective… punishment was hours… "The punishment… lasts… hours…"

Hiccup turned for the second time to Artemis. They'd only gone about thirty steps down the second hallway. Hiccup decided this would be the last stop… he didn't know how long his misery could last now that he wasn't alone anymore… "What? What is it, Artemis?"

"Twenty four hours… the switch… punishment…reversal…? Hic… understand…?" Artemis mentally cursed. He could not speak. Instincts had been thrown out years ago… subjective information couldn't be trusted… and he'd relied on his brain. But now he couldn't even communicate with Hiccup? _Come on, Hiccup_. _Who is Hiccup?_ _Friends?_ _Hiccup is my friend? Hiccup is my friend. He is… my friend!_ Then Artemis frowned. Friends had no value. Truth held absolute value. Friends could be untrue. Therefore friends ≠ truth. And since truth had absolute value… _Hiccup is my friend! He has… the value of… infinity? He does!_

Hiccup didn't see Artemis inner struggle to battle against his rationality. But he did understand… "The punishment, our punishment, the one Simetra placed on us, only lasts twenty four hours? Really?"

_No value? What is value?_ "Yes…?" _Hiccup has absolute value. Truth has absolute value. Hiccup is… true!_ "You… released me…?" Artemis was beginning to overpower his dominating rationality and beginning to regain his personality. But it was a slow process. And one that didn't continue for long… A barely audible explosion made the Manor shake in its form. Some of the bricks that made up the Manor floated into nothingness as Opal's bolt of lightning fried Artemis.

Opal had felt the clutches of time moving. And her body reacted without any influence from her mind. It really had been interesting going mad. Unfortunately it seemed she couldn't go sane again. So when she felt the faintest tug of time starting to move again she could finally use her powers. Pure fucking bliss. She laughed when she fired her first supercharged lightning bolt ever. She laughed as it hit the dragon and sent him flying through the wall and into nothingness. And she laughed at the expense of some random person's misery. Who was that guy anyway? _A target_, Opal agreed with herself to call him.

"…Artemis?" Hiccup couldn't quite grasp what had just happened. Out of nowhere, they were suddenly separate again. Gone again? Hiccup tried to reverse the flow of time… but was surprised that even with his recent increase in misery, nothing happened.

'**You can't control time in a place where you're the one creating time. Get moving!'**

Hiccup jumped backwards as another bolt smashed into the ground where he'd just been standing. The tiles that were hit dissolved into nothingness and the surrounding ones began to float into random directions. Opal Koboi was stepping over the floating tiles as if it was the most natural thing in the world – to walk across a broken hallway's floor whilst standing in a place no time existed. Hiccup crawled backwards; if he had no control over time… then he was just as vulnerable as he'd always been.

Opal walked towards her fallen prey. If she had had any conscious thought left in her body, she would have tried to escape this place; most likely through the use of time magic – now that she'd seen it, she could do as well. But the only "thought" that prevailed in her mind was the target in front of her. He would die. Charging up a final strike… she moved in for the kill…

When suddenly the hallway shook. The bolt exploded against the ceiling as Opal misfired and Hiccup screamed and rolled backwards to avoid the downpour of rubble that came crashing towards him. Opal looked down and suddenly found herself in the middle of the air. She realized she'd failed to step on a tile and she fell into nothingness. She began expecting to have to go another 30 million years before another chance came to escape. _…I'm not insane… anymore…?_ Opal was returning. She began bracing herself for the time stop… but then she saw a light. She turned around while time began slowing again… and came face to face with a massive boulder which smashed into her. While her regeneration should have handled everything no problem, Opal didn't even realize she'd just used the last of her magic. As only one second had actually passed in real-time, she had spent almost all of her magic in that one second… and those three bolts had been the end. Literally.

Hiccup didn't know Opal was dead. He was trying to survive the destruction of the Manor. Entire sections of the Manor simply exploded outwards from the instability that Hiccup had caused by entering the time hole. Hiccup was almost overtaken by one, but managed to grab onto the edge of a tile, before he fell into nothingness. And gravity was messing up… as Hiccup suddenly fell against the ceiling. Taking a few steps forward and then falling sideways into the wall… another few steps before getting crushed by an inhuman pressure… before suddenly floating in zero-gravity. Hiccup threw up; there were only so many things you could handle before you eventually did.

Finally reaching the entrance hall, Hiccup began making his way towards the exit, when suddenly it struck him. The younger Fowl was still underneath the fallen balcony! He'd forgotten all about him! It had been those conversations with Simetra… Quickly turning away from the exit he moved to find the fallen balcony. The rubble from the first shaking of the Manor had actually created a small cave, under which the younger Artemis lay. He was still unconscious, but when Hiccup neared, he woke up.

Waking up in a world of mindfuckery, Artemis called out for Butler. He wouldn't admit it… but he was a bit scared. And it felt the safest to assume Butler would be nearby to save him. He always did. Instead someone different came… Hiccup fell to the floor and looked into the cave like structure: "Artemis! Are you in there?"

The younger Fowl rolled around and saw himself. Or… blue and green eyes? "Are you… me? Or…"

"It's Hiccup! Come on, grab my hand!"

Artemis reached out his hand… he could almost reach… his legs wouldn't listen to him and he couldn't think to crawl just one inch closer… his mind wandered to think about the cliché with the hands reaching for each other and as fate didn't want to disappoint… everything exploded.

The cave suddenly reacted violently and got swallowed in upon itself. It wasn't an actual explosion, as nothing began flying outwards. It was… **'An implosion…'**

_Simetra! Where is he? What happened?_

'**Well, I promised to spill, didn't I? All I can say is… congratulations, the future has been preserved.'**

_What?_

'**You just created me. You just gave **_**me**_** a body to live on in. When… I say when, because I know you will… when you return, I will be gone. I will have inhabited the young Fowl's body. I will then spend a lesser eternity in solace, in loneliness, to rebuild my misery and I will turn into the person who has done all of this for you. Do you get it? I am stuck in a time loop, one where I never die, but also one where I never live. I continuously create myself, and each time I change one small thing, hoping to get out of this madness. But no matter what I do… I can never change my own creation. That is why I helped you… because I would vanish into nothingness otherwise.'**

_But… can't you take a chance? I mean, have you even tried changing that future?_

'**Of course, I've tried it… but I don't know the outcome. It's part of… infinity. Anyway, what do you care! You're just going to fall into the next implosion and emerge unscathed somewhere you already know! You don't know the meaning of true misery. Being forgotten… forever. Did you know that the future Artemis hasn't told you about is a future where you've lost your leg? He thinks you are too weak to handle the truth…'**

Hiccup paused for a moment; a memory of ghost pains in his leg becoming clearer. Time doesn't like being rewritten, Simetra had said, so had it passed on some of the pain to him though he didn't lose his leg? And as for Artemis… _You're wrong. Artemis didn't tell me… because he didn't want to have you gloat over my misery. Artemis cares about others, while you… you're just stuck in self-pity. Get over it already! You say you've lived for a lesser eternity… why can't you just get over it!_

'**You have no… you have no IDEA! Of the **_**extreme**_** loneliness. That is in 'that' place. You've only spent twenty minutes in **_**this**_** place. The other place… is even deeper. Do you think you can really grasp the meaning of being alone for an amount of time so vast that even if all the particles of the observable universe was turned into a single drop of water, there still wouldn't be enough time if every drop represented a hundred thousand years! I have seen Hell… and you have not, so you cannot lecture me!'**

_Yeah… you've seen Hel. A lot of heroes have. But did you know that what made those heroes… heroic? It was that they didn't just accept their fate. They didn't just… give up! They fought their fate… and for that the Gods granted them a different, a happier outcome at least for a while. Of course every man has to die… but why do you just accept the loneliness?_

'**There are **_**no**_** fucking GODS! The only "God" is infinity. There was no creator. There was no… gah, forget it! I don't know, but for sure, there were NO Gods involved in any of your "heroes" tales. And trust me when I say, they did **_**NOT**_** see the true Hell. That title is reserved for me and me alone.'**

_Are you proud of being alone? That… that's just sad…_

'**I… Did you know that Artemis isn't the first to have gone through my test? Did you know why he didn't tell you about the fact that he is my 186540416****th**** experiment? And that all of the other experiments I've conducted were performed on other Fowls from other futures? Let me tell you of something I'd like to call: "Betrayal of a friend!" Simply put, Artemis kills you in those futures to change the future and pass the first trial! Do you call that a friend? Your draconic "friend" is nearly as bad… he's just using you to…'**

_Shut up! You don't know anything, do you? Of course, Artemis wouldn't tell me about that; he's much too proud of telling others of his loss of control and the fact that you've brought him through this before is just the kind of burden that he'd bring himself to bear. As for Toothless… I think I made it quite clear that you absolutely SUCK at lying… Get out of my head, Simetra! And take your misery with you!_

'**Gladly. Just remember… when you're being backstabbed you know **_**exactly**_** who did so, and that you could have stopped it!'**

At this point Hiccup didn't feel any connection to Simetra anymore. He'd crossed a line… just then, an implosion finally took the entire Manor in one gulp, but Hiccup didn't feel any different; one minute he was looking at a negative world, a dysfunctional and broken Fowl Manor, and the next he was standing next to Toothless and Artemis, while one of the fairies was questioning what they were. "…Artemis Fowl. The young one over there is Artemis Fowl. And the one…" The other fairy was even still alive! If Hiccup had known what a whiplash was, he'd most likely be feeling the effects of one right now… but he had no time to think about the sudden change of scenary. If he was to stop what was about to happen… then he had to move quickly.

Running across the hall, to the hidden cabinet he'd seen Butler open, he pulled out the big one. It was the same as the one Toothless had fired by accident… and it would definitely be enough to grab the attention of the others.

Root was looking directly at the dragon, trying to get his head around all of this… craziness that was being presented to him, but Holly had her mind on the entire hall. And seeing the Mud Man pull out what looked like a particularly nasty gun, Holly reacted immediately. She and the Mud Man himself yelled at the same time: "GET DOWN!"

Hiccup wasn't the best at controlling a bow (he was piss poor at controlling one, actually), but this device didn't seem to have the same pulling mechanism. Actually it had nowhere to pull. What did you have to do? And then he remembered where Toothless had picked up the weapon, and Hiccup pulled the trigger while shouting to the other's to look out… he only wanted to hit the pixie. The whispering sound of the shell as it was propelled towards the hallway came a lot faster than it had done in slow motion and Hiccup was also pushed backwards from the recoil. But if the recoil hadn't hit him to make him fall, he would most likely have been hit by the two Neutrino shots the other fairy had sent towards him.

A massive explosion engulfed the inside of the hallway, making a bathtub fall down (again) along with tons and tons of rubble and other destroyed furniture. While Holly and Root had gone free from the explosion, it sounded like some else hadn't… someone angry.

Opal was completely flustered. She tried to lift the stones but found she had no power to do that. Why had the Viking kid, posing as Artemis Fowl (something seriously messed up had apparently happened, Opal hadn't really been listening to the boring parts), just done that? _Did he see me?_ Impossible. Something was amiss here… and now Opal had to go the long way around. Furious because of the unexpected exercise, she began planning an experiment that would tell exactly how much torture a Mud Man could take. And when she'd completed the experiment then could she be sure to inflict as much pain as possible upon that kid. Opal found she could not even bear the kid's face anymore… there were even three persons wearing that particular face… too many plans had crumbled because of him… too many perfect plans, that shouldn't have left any wiggle-room for her adversaries and yet unexpected variables had now destroyed her plans thrice in a row.

Meanwhile, neither Holly nor Root held any affection for the Viking kid. Had it not been for the two newcomers stopping them Hiccup would have bitten the grass by now. Or the linoleum floor at least. The older Artemis and the older Holly held down the younger Holly and Root respectively. Hiccup immediately dropped the weapon and apologized: "I'm sorry! I just saw a shadow… and…" Hiccup frowned; why was he so bad at lying. The fairies would probably never believe him if he told of what had actually happened. How close they'd come to…

"And because I told Hiccup where to find the weapons cache, Hiccup knew where to go in case he needed to defend himself. I just forgot to tell him about… the difference between the smaller guns and… the more volatile types of guns," the older Artemis continued. Now that Holly wasn't struggling anymore, he let go and picked up the cage with the lemur again. Holly scoffed, but accepted the reason. No one had been hurt… but still, what was up with the surprise? Why didn't the Mud Man just say: "Shadow!" or something? Why had he kept it secret… until the very last moment? Something was amiss… but like before, there was nothing to say to it. It could, for all Holly knew, be something of an insider's code between the time travelers. Holly tried not to think about it… but with three people looking nearly the same… and there was even an older version of herself as well (Holly shuddered)… a headache was definitely coming.

Root had also accepted the story, though he did question the logic in giving a kid access to a weapon cache that contained a grenade launcher. Mud Men seriously seemed to have no limitations on their weapons technology – who knew what they would be able to do in a few years?

Hiccup spoke up again: "Artemis," two people looked at him, "both of you… now that we have the lemur… what do we do?"

It was the older Artemis who answered: "We return… to the future!" Hiccup didn't get the joke, Toothless didn't get the joke, but if the dragon Artemis had ever wanted a hand so he could facepalm, it would be right about now. _Why…?_ But upon seeing the smirk he knew; it was to irritate him specifically. It was a well placed joke, he had to admit. The execution was flawless too. "And how do you suppose we do that?"

"Well… No 1's time travelling only works for three days, but anytime we want to return, we have to just return to the place we emerged and Holly can then call upon the return portal."

"So… the meeting room?"

"Exactly. And to the rest of you who will not be joining us… have a nice future!" The older Artemis had an uncharacteristically warm smile on his face, as he spoke to the rest of the room. He was speaking to a shocked Butler who had only just woken up, but both Holly and Root looked like they were relieved. Messing with time was serious business, and the earlier it could be over with… the easier it would become to deal with everything. Butler just looked like a lost sheep as he didn't understand the situation. It was not the face a bodyguard of the finest caliber would ever want to be caught with. Then he noticed the unconscious form of his charge and the assassin's unconscious form beside him, and after doing a quick check up on both he began to make some phone calls. The two fairies had already shielded – they were most likely heading home already.

The older Artemis waited until things had quieted down a bit and then said: "Hiccup… I need you to not say a word." Hiccup looked at Artemis. _Not say a word…_ Could it be about the fact that he, the older Artemis, was actually a product of their future; wasn't that something that Simetra had said to Toothless? It almost had to be… nothing else made sense. So Hiccup simply nodded. "Good, next I need you all to follow my lead completely. It might seem weird what I'm doing… but it is necessary. With that said, let's go." And without waiting he began walking down the other hallway.

Following behind was the older Holly, Toothless, Hiccup and the dragon Artemis who made up the rear of the group. _So many unanswered questions._ Artemis thought as he walked behind everyone else. He'd noticed Hiccup's distress instantly, when he'd reacted and yet he made no attempt to stop it. It had been like… knowing something was wrong and knowing what could make it right, without actually realizing how you knew. So he'd just let everything unfold without actually doing anything. But now… the questions that were pushing at him wouldn't leave him alone. First and foremost… what did Hiccup know? What had happened to him?

Artemis really didn't like being kept out of the loop. And the older Artemis simply kept his overconfident smirk on his face. Good thing the two were as far apart as possible…

Deciding to cut the chapter here was one of the harder choices I've had to make. But what comes next can fill out a chapter on its own, and _tons_ of stuff happened in this chapter… so a bit of breathing room was needed. Phew. It's also the longest chapter I've written yet: 9000 words! I tried going for 6500… and ended up with 9000. How does that work? Has anybody noticed how much I suck at describing people and especially their physique? It's my fatal flaw! Sorry. Personally I really liked Hiccup telling Simetra off… but I think Simetra is correct in that Hiccup has no clue as to what he's gone through. Finally, hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you're still thirsting for more… it should be coming in two days, with a bit of luck!


	23. Sickness

I'm cutting myself some slack and releasing this chapter a day late for several reasons. For one, getting hammered, plastered, extremely drunk for the first time ever and having a massive hangover the day after. Trust me when I say I was not in the mood for writing when a drill was trying to do a mental trepanation on me – or that was what it felt like. Second, I sort of lost focus halfway through this chapter – writing in my usual way – and then suddenly I just froze. No more ideas! Well, I got my inspiration back today and finished it up, but I don't know about this chapter… I think it's more of a filler chapter. Setting up the next part of the story, eh? Well, it's not totally boring… I hope. It's getting harder thinking up original rants… but I'm trying to rack my brain for more randomness ;-). Today's random statistic is a shocker… not really… or maybe it is: 1900 hits! Ya, that is awesome, getting 200 hits in three days O_O! Amazing, you guys… and hope you like this mostly filler-y chapter. At least that's what I think it's like… I've read this through _three_ times and the words are beginning to turn "neutral". Maybe you won't think it's filler-y at all. And finally, I said previously (last chapter actually) that I ramble a lot. After reading some more stories… I think I've realized I'm only a lightweight rambler!

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though. And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 23: Sickness.

Simetra didn't know whether or not he should be insanely angry or insanely happy.

His anger came from remembering Hiccup telling him to essentially fuck off. It pissed him off so much that his machine almost became the victim of a third beating, consequent destruction and then switching out… until he suddenly thought of something that should make him happy beyond belief.

His happiness came, of course, from the fact that he had exited the time loop. Information was flowing through him, information he'd never had access to before. He hadn't lied to Hiccup when he told him he was going to a place he knew, but he wasn't telling the truth either. Because the truth was Simetra had no clue where the implosion of the time hole would lead Hiccup. Always… always had he just ended up in his younger body, building up loneliness and misery and then repeating his experiments down to the letter, except making one small adjustment each time. The reason for him only making one change at a time was simple when he explained it to himself: Variable control. But… unfortunately he'd succumbed to anger; he'd said too much to Hiccup in the belief that he would have a chance to redo it again, as he'd always had.

He hadn't kept the variables controlled. Of course this had apparently freed him, but now he… feared (Simetra scowled at using this word, but it was the truth… as much as he didn't want to admit it) if he could still make a mistake and return to being caught in the time loop. This was the sole reason Simetra wasn't already exploring all of the different possible futures immediately. What if it ended up backfiring? Then he thought of the fact that Hiccup had basically called him a coward… wasn't this situation the same?

Breathing slowly trying to calm down at the fact that he really _was_ a coward, Simetra thought over the scenario in his head. He would simply have to face whatever would come. How hard could that be? If something groundbreaking happened and it wasn't in Simetras favor he could still change that future… once or twice. He didn't think he'd dare to do more than that…

He feared going through 'that' place again. Always the same… misery… a smaller eternity spent on relearning how to command 50 % of all futures to allow him control over time. It was really quite irritating that if he wanted to keep his variables controlled then he would have to retrain like that every time… but supposing the alternative could be to make the loop smaller or destroy time, he supposed he had to do it. It was really quite simple once you first got it; Hiccup had absolutely horrendous (no pun intended) control so if Simetra hadn't been there to give him complete guidance Hiccup would have been ripped apart by time immediately. How hard could it be to imagine an infinite amount of ways to die in the same moment… when you've been alone for 99.9999 % of your life and the only real contact you've had with people are people cursing your very existence?

Simetra's power was so simple to him that he never even questioned it. He knew that because there was infinite ways to die, he could always control 50 % of infinity… even though he didn't know what infinity was. To take an example, standing at a bus station and watching the bus come closer to pick up passengers… and then stepping in front of it. Why didn't rational people do this? Simple: they knew that they would die. However seeing as that rational person still has the _possibility_ of killing himself in an infinite amount of ways – he could run in an infinite amount of directions, only making one infinitesimally small direction change and still run in front of the bus to die – and seeing as one infinity wasn't bigger than another, this automatically gave him ultimate control over 100 % of the possible futures… even though there were more futures than just the one's in which the rational man died. For that matter the man could be insane or a woman and it wouldn't matter: As long as one person was still alive on the entire globe, time could be controlled, because there would always be infinite ways to die.

Anyway, once he had relearned everything about his own power he would then gather information on the world, living life through every existing person at the same time in the past, present and future… It was a simple matter of fusing his timeline with another person's time to experience everything everywhere… until this moment. Then time would just end and after conducting these experiments, he would through entering his original futures body – which had Hiccup in it – be making himself again by guiding Hiccup to do so. Somewhere in between the isolation and the end of time though, an unmentionable episode also weighed on him, something that drove him forward when he needed to reassure himself he was doing the right thing. It was his true goal, the reason he'd started his trials in the first place. He supposed his first motive no longer even bound him… his only reason for wanting to know infinity wasn't a lack of knowledge, but the fact that the knowledge would allow him to escape the time loop.

And now that he was finally out he was afraid of returning. Pathetic. Not wanting to reflect anymore than was necessary on his own weakness, Simetra began focusing on the one experiment that now actually continued. For the first time ever… he was seeing a future that was outside of what had been able to happen before. And he hoped it could eventually lead to his ultimate goal being completed. Something that would make "the episode" as if it had never happened. Staring at the screen as it was easier to let the machine do his dirty work rather than conjure the picture in the air, Simetra observed the group…

(Fowl Manor)

Hiccup was also deep in thought. He was getting progressively more and more worried. Why could he _still_ not feel anything? It was as if the entire world had just turned pointless. Simetra had left his body… so why was he still feeling like this? Another thing he feared was telling the others of what he'd discovered. What would they say if they heard they'd died? What would they say when they heard what Simetra had explained to Hiccup – how he was stuck in a time loop, how his powers were fed by misery and how… Hiccup suddenly remembered. Artemis! He needed some answers from him. Though Simetra had probably told him everything, Hiccup still wanted to hear it from the man… dragon… man-turned-dragon himself. Hiccup was about to slow down his walk as to talk to Artemis while they were walking, when the older Artemis suddenly stopped. The older Holly shielded to a hand sign Artemis made.

"In here," he then said. And with those words they entered the room to the right. It was a library. "Stay quiet," Artemis said with serious eyes as he looked at them all. When they'd gotten the message he closed his eyes and seemed to begin meditating. Toothless thought it to be quite frustrating; why were they doing this? Though he hadn't gotten the entire layout of the Manor down, he still knew that the meeting room wasn't going to be reached by going through the library. So what was the point? But upon seeing the fact that both Artemis and Hiccup stayed silent and complied with the older Artemis' wishes, he too decided to give it a shot.

The dragon Artemis was continuously pondering when he could get a chance to question Hiccup. It wouldn't do now though; Artemis knew when he was serious… and his other self _was_ serious. Still… he could have told them what was wrong – they had had the time, didn't they? If Hiccup hadn't suddenly reacted to that 'shadow' as crazily as he'd done, then they would have had more than enough time. They should have had enough time when walking down the hallway as well – but at that point in time Artemis had been thinking about something else, so… just staying silent for now and patiently awaiting the right moment might be the best idea. There was something else about the way his older self was acting… as if he'd already been in this position before… but Artemis dismissed this theory. The Old Artemis was the future self of the currently unconscious younger Fowl; therefore he could not know what was happening. Artemis thought that he was planning at the moment: It was always easier in familiar conditions in a place you knew. Staying silent would help finish the plan faster. So he stayed silent.

Hiccup looked at Toothless. He'd seen his best friend die… and yet looking at him alive now got the same response as it would have been if he'd been dead. It was so… indifferent. Looking to the older Artemis… Hiccup had seen him dissolve into nothingness when his past had been destroyed. He was a mystery; if he was the future Artemis then… where was his own future self or Toothless' future self? Did he know everything that was going to happen? Was his appearance a way of telling them that they'd failed in the future… or was it a way of saying they still had hope? That this older Artemis would somehow guide them through his own past (Hiccup glanced at the dragon Artemis; was that his own past? Or was it the younger Fowl's future self? So many questions…), and make them emerge victorious? But if they were going to fail if this older Artemis didn't help them, then how could he have even returned to this point in the first place? If they'd failed they should be dead… right? And there was something else… _I need to tell the others about the punishment; the one thing I got from that whole mess that I'm sure of_… but they had to stay silent for now.

After two minutes of silence, Artemis opened his eyes again. "Let's go. We must hurry now. Continue to stay as silent as possible…"

After looking out the door, and checking no one was there, they then continued in a faster tempo towards the meeting room and it wasn't long until they were again at the empty room. Holly unshielded and called upon the echoes of time magic that was still left in this place… and soon a full-fledged time portal stood before the group. Hiccup wasn't impressed; he'd seen the time hole and the workings of time due to him being part of Simetra for a short while so it didn't really appear to be anything special.

Toothless on the other hand was fascinated with the lights of the portal. While he wasn't bound by the urge to jump the light as he would have felt if he'd still be a dragon he was nonetheless hypnotized by the lights… he seemed to remember something similar from earlier. _Isn't this the same as the one that brought us to this place?_ Toothless only remembered something pushing on his brains from that time… and waking up in a new body. Toothless shuddered. Not the fondest memory of the bunch… but not the worst. That had to be losing the ability to fly freely… though he was forever grateful to Hiccup for giving him another chance.

Artemis was fighting his instincts that told him to follow the light… It was good thing he was human at his core.

"Okay, I need to explain some things before we enter this place… so hold your horses on the surprised faces, ok? We don't have a whole lot of time, so no questions. Just trust me, roll with it, whatever that makes you do exactly as I tell you to…" the older Artemis said. With a grin plastered on his face he began briefing the rest of the group…

If their shocked and/or confused expressions were anything to judge by, he'd say it was a good idea he told them not to ask questions or express their surprise too much.

It was only just in time he got done because an absolutely furious Opal entered the room just as the quintet entered the time portal. Letting out an angry whinny she tried to hit them with her signature bolt of lightning… but it was too late and the portal died in the air just before she hit them. Shrieking with anger she racked her brain for what she could do; those stupid Mud Men and that dragon _and_ Miss Short was really getting on her nerves. She had been walking down the hallway, checking her portable notebook which also acted as her ace in the hole; she had the entire Fowl system on her notebook and was able to see every nook and cranny of the place… or so she thought. However she hadn't checked it often enough apparently. When she arrived in the lobby, she'd found they were no longer there…

Opal checked up on the facts… she needed the lemur; the group had just brought the lemur to Frond knows where… and then suddenly she knew what she had to do. Trying to remember how it had looked – how it had felt – Opal began conjuring up her own time portal… it wasn't really very hard as the basic structure was already there. Smirking Opal entered the time portal… _I'm coming… for all of you_…

Meanwhile, or not really any "while" but as meanwhile as it could get when you were travelling from one point in time to another, the dragon Artemis wondered how many times one person could time travel without that person's atoms getting rattled from their usual connections. If spontaneous combustion would ever be proved, the cause would most likely be overexposure to time travel. Or that was at least what Artemis thought. The intermolecular forces between the body's molecules would continuously heat up and at some point the person would burst into flames… Of course this brainstorming session was merely a means to keep himself conscious through the time tunnel, as there was luckily no need for "feeling" his way through the time stream to exit where he wanted. This was a return trip and therefore the destination was already picked for them. He just hoped the plan would work… the one they had just received from the older Artemis. Then Artemis noticed something.

It almost felt like an entire month ago, since he'd read the report on time travel. It had actually only been three and a half day, but now he remembered one of the prime aspects of the portal; it was built on feelings. Which meant that everyone could see everyone's thoughts. Simetra's portals had been different in that they did not allow this… but this one did and upon noticing, Artemis immediately began thinking about what he didn't want the others to know – if somebody tells you _not_ to think about a pink elephant then you're _going_ to think about a pink elephant. The following conversation took place in the span of… well, if it had been possible to measure the passing of time it would be close to five seconds, but now it took an indefinable amount of time as they were travelling through the portal.

Hiccup was the first to "notice" Artemis thoughts, although they only confirmed what he already knew. But at least he now knew Simetra had been telling the truth. So it was Toothless who had the first outburst: _Artemis… are these… your thoughts? Your memories? Did Hiccup… lose a leg? And… you weren't the only one? You knew why Simetra went for you! Why didn't you tell us?_

Artemis sent the mental equivalent of a shrug, though he secretly also felt guilty. _I thought… I didn't think it was a relevant piece of information. I thought it would demoralize you to know about it…_

Nothing was hidden in the connection though and Toothless and Hiccup both felt Artemis' guilt. But when Artemis chose to focus on Toothless, he never noticed Hiccup's thoughts… which now revolved around telling the others of his missing feelings, his knowledge of what was going on and… suddenly he couldn't keep quiet anymore. _Artemis, Toothless… don't fight. I… I've got something to reveal that will blow Artemis' secrets out of the water. I've got some good news and some bad news… and starting immediately: the good news is that the punishment only lasts for twenty four hours._

_Are you serious? Where did you get this?_

_Well, those are the bad news… I experienced a future in which all of you died… this in turn created Simetra; I created him to be the one he is today. This in turn also cost me the ability to feel anything apparently… I'm sorry. If I hadn't listened then… none of this would have happened._ While Hiccup tried to find his emotions to actually _be_ sorry, Artemis was shocked at this divulgence of important information… relief washed over him like a tidal wave. He wasn't going to stay like this forever. This knowledge coupled with the fact that Hiccup was currently allowing both of them to see fractured pieces of his memory, made Artemis instantly forgive Hiccup. It might be he was the reason for their original predicament, but this understanding they had now gained over Simetra and the "trial" could prove to be what pushed them over the edge and made them win the second trial. At which point only one would remain. And besides… if none of this had happened then Hiccup would have lost his leg. At least Artemis had done one good thing.

Toothless was also relieved. This "relief" made him accept the fact that he would stay human for the next 9 hours much more than if he'd been told that in five minutes they would change back. It was like, at the prospect of losing the versatility he'd gained in human ways, he could suddenly enjoy actually being someone else that much more. Because it wouldn't last. He was almost a bit stumped that he didn't get to try out some of the things you could do when you were a human. It could have been fun… maybe. But he supposed he did miss being himself after all… and nine hours had potential to be a lot of time. Especially with the plan that the older Artemis had laid out for them…

Toothless then suddenly found a new focus. He knew there was something the older Artemis wasn't telling them. Of course it had been a very good explanation at a glance… but Toothless knew it was something else. So Toothless focused on the older Artemis' thoughts – nothing would be hidden… – but upon entering his mind, he found… nothing. It was an empty shell? Then he noticed the older Artemis seemed like he was asleep. Growling a curse at the fact that he couldn't read the other's mind, Toothless continued to try and focus on Holly's mind. But it was too late… and they exited the portal in the meeting room.

Unlike Toothless, Hiccup knew about the older Artemis' secret – but he didn't know how he could be here or why he was here. He was however in the middle of convincing himself to try and start a conversation with the older Artemis – to find out – but before he could get to it they'd appeared in the meeting room.

It actually looked like a meeting room now. For about two seconds… As they exited Toothless hit his knee on the table, eliciting a curse from the dragon as he hissed in pain. But he was luckier than Hiccup who landed on the table followed by Artemis landing on top of Hiccup. The table broke. Chaotic limb entanglement followed naturally – Growls and getoffme's were shouted out at random; Hiccup was sprawling so much that Artemis had trouble getting up – and it was only pure discipline that kept the other occupants of the room from bursting into laughter. Then Holly could have no more. The situation might be serious – the plan was hinging quite a bit on luck – but there was only so many things that could happen before you needed to laugh. Seeing one human jumping around on one leg cursing, while another was trying to untangle himself from a dragon and a broken table did it. And joining in on the laughter was another voice…

"I recorded that, too! This is comedic gold!" Foaly triumphed, and if the little red light was anything to go by, Foaly had been ready for this appearance. No 1 was also sniggering a bit from the sight though he tried to keep it in; Qwan had gone home and left it to him to be the responsible one. Qwan was after all the most prominent figure when it came to ancient magic and since the two warlocks had appeared, they had been working 18 hours a day to satisfy the fairy race in its quest to stay hidden while at the same time protect the planet from the menacing Mud Men. Not that the two warlocks minded the attention, it was just, everybody needed a break sometimes. But it wasn't time for a break now. Qwan would handle the emergencies underground and No 1 knew what was going to happen here aboveground… the plan had to be followed… and then everything had to be left to luck… But for now, marveling at the fact that the dragon was real, which meant the plan was a go, No 1 simply enjoyed being here. With all of his friends.

It was hard keeping it a secret for them. Foaly could literally feel his mouth beginning to run off; how would they react to it? Foaly really wanted to know… But he had to keep it contained otherwise everything could end up badly. He opened up a window for a text program and began typing what he would say… as well as his own imaginary answers and reactions to his revealing of the secrets. That kept the urge from him at least because he could then divide his attention between so much that he kept himself too occupied to accidentally let slip what was about to happen. He knew that the three of them had been fed only a part of the plan as to not change what should not be changed. Foaly was however already in the process of uploading the video onto his personal net – not only was it hilarious, but it was also a permanent reminder of dragons being actual and not fiction.

It didn't take too long until there was again order in the room – Artemis now stood proudly, not at all fazed by the little accident, Hiccup was a bit put off and Toothless was still in a bit of pain; he'd hit the table pretty hard. The older Artemis and Holly were both nowhere to be seen. Only the lemur in the cage was any indication that they had even been there. But that was part of the plan.

There wasn't much need for talking; Foaly knew he wouldn't be able to stop if he started, and No 1 wasn't sure what to say. So Hiccup picked up the lemur – he did look like Artemis, so it had been decided that he was to administer the cure to Artemis' mother (though Hiccup had no idea how to "administer" anything) – and a syringe (it was a glass tube with markings in white to tell how much there was inside the tube. Actually a smart idea if you needed precise measuring, Hiccup supposed, though it still looked… quite threatening) and began making his way to the bedroom as instructed by the older Artemis. It wasn't hard to find the door with the crystal encrusted doorknobs. Meanwhile, Artemis, Toothless and No 1 remained in the room while Foaly began working on the security system. It wasn't that hard to break in once Artemis kindly provided all of the access codes. Artemis couldn't help but think he would have to switch out his codes as soon as possible – if he didn't want to find himself in the crossfire of one of the centaur's jokes.

And from that point, everything suddenly happened very quickly. Butler entered the room with a barrel…

… and Hiccup in the meantime had entered the bedroom. Everything about it was aesthetical and very beautiful: a rug covered in vines layered the floor, a huge bed (absolutely huge) stood a little further than halfway through the room and other items, that looked like they fit with the general design of the room, stood on shelves and dressers. It was unlike Artemis' study which had practicality at the high table instead of design. But Hiccup gasped when he saw Artemis mother. She would have been, should have been beautiful… there was no denying that… but at the moment she looked more like a tortured soul than anything. She was so thin she could be mistaken for a skeleton. Her hair was frizzled and stood in all directions. And yet upon seeing him, Artemis' mother smiled and took a single pained breath. It was at this point Hiccup felt guilt. He could feel again! But it wasn't exactly the best first feeling to be having…

It should be Artemis standing in this situation. This was _his_ mother. Not Hiccup's mother. And yet… she looked at him like he was her son. She had no reason to be so happy to see _him_ when compared to seeing Artemis. For the first time he began thinking of Simetra's "punishment" as an actual punishment. People who knew nothing of this situation had to be deceived if they wanted to keep their sanity. And as for Artemis' mother… she was so sick that the shock of telling her, even though she deserved to know, could actually kill her if she was told the truth. Which meant that Hiccup had to perform the ultimate lie – he had to impersonate Artemis in front of Artemis' mother. He supposed that the older Artemis had made it easier by saying what he could say to her to make her think he was who she thought he was… but it was still a long shot. If anyone should be able to tell the difference it was this woman. But they couldn't afford to tell her if they wanted to save her. She looked like she had maybe two-three hours left of her life. And those hours could be shortened to minutes if she made any wrong movements.

Taking a deep breath and then crossing the room towards the silky curtains that hung so only a small sliver of light entered the room and cut the four-poster bed in half, Hiccup moved to the smiling sick person in the bed. He imagined it was his own mother – nothing else than affection would fool her. He pretended his mother had come alive again though it pained him to do so… As she lay spread-eagled on the bed, as if thrown there, dumped there to die, Hiccup took the cage and syringe and moved up to the side of the bed.

"It's going to be all right… Mother," Hiccup had a bit of difficulty with that particular word, but Mrs. Fowl had just blinked and seemed to not notice it, "I'm here now. And I have found a cure," Hiccup took a breath, showed the lemur and awaited the judgment. He was getting increasingly nervous when there came no response from her. But finally she spoke, like a paper blowing in the wind, her ragged voice almost gone to the sickness: "My little Arty… you found a cure…"

Hiccup gulped, but complied: "Yes, I found a cure. It was the lemur… the one from Madagar, the one you bought remember?" Hiccup hoped he'd pronounced the word correctly. Names of locations you'd never heard of weren't one of Hiccup's strong suits either. But it did sound close, right?

"Arty? Is it… really you? You… aren't looking at me like you usually do." Hiccup winced. He was busted. Or… "That is because you are sick, M-Mother. I'm… worried about you…" Artemis was a bit distant to his parents, right? But every child would be worried about his or her parents if it came to it, right?

Mrs. Fowl slumped a bit. "You… care. Artemis, I'm… so happy…" Then she turned her attention to the lemur that jumped around inside its cage. "The lemur… cure…"

"Yes, Mother, the lemur is the cure. I will administer the cure into you from this lemur," Hiccup said not very comfortable with the situation. He knew what he should do – impersonate Artemis – but actually pulling it off was harder than he thought possible. He didn't even know how he should do these things with the syringe or the lemur! But time was steadily passing, so the plan was in full swing.

"Can I… hold it? Just… a minute. It will… make me _so_ happy…" she smiled a smile of such warmth, Hiccup nearly considered doing it. But the lemur, jumping away from the cage wall to avoid being grasped by the sick woman, took him back to the situation.

"I'm sorry, Mother. You need to be well first. I can't… lose you, because you wanted to do things backwards." Had he gone overboard with the last sentence? Would Artemis say that?

"Arty… come on, I'm strong…" To prove her point she got up in the bed slowly. She leaned against the headboard for support, but already she looked fit enough to hold a small animal – like a lemur for instance. But Hiccup could not be distracted by such things… "Mother, you are not thinking straight, you must realize that you are deathly sick and if I do not administer this cure in time… then you won't be here anymore."

"Arty, don't you want to see me happy." Mrs. Fowl was putting on a face of hurt; Hiccup almost handed over the lemur again, but this time something else caught his eye. Mrs. Fowl… wasn't looking as sick anymore. Judging from her sudden energy boost she didn't look like she was about to pass out anymore either. Her voice had become steadier, more powerful. And her eyes no longer looked like a pale blue, but had more of a shining quality to them.

"I do… but I also want to see you _healthy_! I think you need to calm down and sleep… before I administer the cure." Hiccup wasn't going to hand it over…

"Don't you love me?" Hiccup couldn't bear to look her in the eyes as she made this statement. But, the goal was so close, if they could change the future of Artemis' mother (possibly) dying, then they would complete the second trial! So Hiccup steeled himself: "Mother… I love y-you… more than anything! But just please. You don't know what we've gone through to get this lemur. It's… just stay still for 5 seconds and then you will be healed. Then… this nightmare will be over.

Mrs. Fowl's eyes became slits as she glared at Hiccup. "I don't want to be injected, I want to hold the lemur. Can't we call him something cute? Like Lemmy. Or Jayjay." Hiccup could see the internal struggle between two sides of Mrs. Fowl. One kept the appearance of the sickness, the appearance of innocence, but the second had a demanding nature, one quite unlike a mother. Hiccup decided to humor her.

"Ok, Mother. We'll call him Jayjay. And when we're done with this… then you can hold him and we can let him out into the wild or do anything you want to do. But I need you to stay still while I give you this cure."

Hiccup took up the syringe and appeared to be inspecting it; or he hoped it looked that way as he had no idea what to look for on a syringe.

"Arty! I demand you hand me the lemur now! And don't touch me with that thing!"

"Mother, you are hysterical. You are not yourself. I need you to calm down… otherwise I can't cure you."

Hiccup took a few steps back from the bed, when Mrs. Fowl suddenly got up from the bed and walked towards Hiccup. If Hiccup had thought Artemis was half-draugr… he now knew where the half came from. "Artemis! Give me the lemur!" she almost shrieked.

Hiccup froze. "Artemis? Mother… is it really you? What is going on?" Mrs. Fowl looked like she considered something and then she said in a voice of pure contempt: "I despise you, Artemis Fowl. You bothersome human. How I detest you."

Hiccup took another step backwards with his jaw dropping to the floor. Mrs. Fowl was steaming with rage, literally steaming and was stepping towards him. As she continued she said: "I will crush you all like the bugs you are. When I have the lemur, I will destroy the LEP, Foaly and Julius Root. I will make Holly Short my personal slave; when I need someone to suffer she will always gladly accept the pain. And you… I will destroy you and then I will travel backwards in time until the day you were born and I will destroy you again!"

Opal looked at her adversary. She actually expected him to have guessed by now who she was, but when no answer came, she decided to reveal herself. "Did you really think you could fool me? Did you think you escaped when you jumped through that portal? Because then you are sorely mistaken. I merely altered your younger self's memory and everyone who knew what that dragon told them to make them forget and then I dropped out of the time portal a little early. I knew I could become the trigger for this entire thing and though you have eluded me before… now I will end it! No one can save you now!"

Hiccup then remembered something. It wasn't much, but he knew he was safe. "You're Opal, right? Then… I suppose I can tell you what Artemis told me: When Opal says the words 'No one can save you now!', you'll be safe. So… that means, you lose!"

Opal wasn't going to stand it anymore… no one had the gall to tell her she would lose like that… she closed the distance about to strike the Fowl with physical violence (she planned to continue by using her own body; she would simply be knocking him out for later use)… then came the sudden thought 'Artemis told me'? _Does that mean this is that Viking kid?_ _But he… he acted!_ Suddenly Mrs. Fowl fell like a puppet had released her strings…

On the other side of the connection between Mrs. Fowl and Opal, Opal had kept an eye on the battle situation. She was absolutely certain nothing had escaped the all seeing camera system of Fowl Manor. Too bad Foaly had put a video loop into the mix… Though Opal was close, she had no way of reacting when Holly burst into the control room and fired an entire barrage of Neutrino shots at the pixie. She was caught off guard, lifted up from the chair and smashed into the wall where she fell to the floor, unconscious. Holly silently did a little victory dance (as did the author for successfully finding a way to punish Opal for the third time in consecutive chapters?). Unfortunately the victory was short lived.

Holly was now trapped. _Stupid Koboi_. She'd made some sort of body double as made clear by the dissolving of her clone. And now she was escaping… Holly knew this was part of the plan. What wasn't part of the plan however, was the fact that she was now locked inside the control room. She'd tried to blast the door, she'd tried to blast the wall around the door… but to no avail. Some sort of force field kept her locked up. She was stuck. She tried hammering on the door, but nothing happened. Artemis was on his own out there… again. Holly had promised herself she wouldn't let herself stay too far away from him; she wanted to follow him just like Hiccup and Toothless had been able to do… through time… but now she was locked up inside the booth and was helpless. If only she hadn't had to use her old uniform from ten years ago… her Neutrino 3000 would have made short work of the force field… but it had been necessary for the future to play as it had until this point. With a final kick to the door Holly sank to the floor, defeated.

At exactly that moment the dragon Artemis got off Butler as the _Mesmer_ control broke. There really wasn't anything a mesmerized Butler could do against a dragon, and luckily Opal had been fooled by the fact that Artemis stayed in the meeting room. And now Butler groaned, coming off the floor: "Remind me not to ever mess with a dragon… Artemis? It is you, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It's me. How did you know? Did… I, my older self, tell you?"

"He did – in a way. Artemis… I know this is going to be hard, but you must understand something; Opal is not gone yet. And you haven't completed the trial yet. You need to build the past as it happened… because, well, if you leave it as it is then your father and your brothers are going to die. In the past, two days ago, Opal arrived. She then killed Mr. Fowl and your brothers before mesmerizing me. But in between your disappearance and me getting captured, you told me what was going to happen. And I can't tell you… I'm sorry, Artemis, but the future could be destroyed if I tell you. Forgive me."

"Of course, old friend. But… if Opal is still on the loose… where is she?"

"Well, right about now she should be escaping the Manor in the Bentley," as if on cue a motor could be heard starting up. "Now listen Artemis, we don't have a lot of time. Opal will return in a few moments. No 1 has gone with Toothless and they are going to get Hiccup and get you all together. The only thing I can tell you is… to save your father and your brothers." Butler could feel his job as a bodyguard slipping away – again. After all, it was _always_ the usual situations that Butler got Artemis out of; all the unusual and dangerous ones Artemis would have to clear himself. And it hurt Butler to not tell Artemis of the things to come even though he could remember the story as clear as day.

At that moment a voice spoke over the speaker: "I will come for you, Artemis Fowl. I have killed your father, your brothers, and I will find and kill your mother before finally making you beg for death. I am coming for you."

It was at this moment Toothless, No 1 and Hiccup all rushed into the room.

Toothless hadn't done that much against Butler when he'd come _Mesmerized_ into the room. He'd grabbed the barrel as he'd been told to do, but otherwise Artemis had done everything. He had volunteered to get Hiccup out of the hairy situation and guided by No 1, they'd found him in the embrace of the now healthy Mrs. Fowl. Hiccup was nearly suffocating when trying to tell her that he wasn't whom she thought he was, but Mrs. Fowl wouldn't listen. "You saved me from that… creature's mad mind, Arty."

When No 1 had shown himself there had been a bit of chaos, but it had been contained after a quick promise to tell Mrs. Fowl about what was going on… as soon as "Artemis" had finished what he needed to do. Angeline merely went to her bed to sleep; with all the surprises and all the excitement she was quite tired. And then they were off. Everything was happening too quickly… no time to analyze what was happening. Entering the room, Hiccup thought back to what they'd been told by the older Artemis, compared to what had actually happened.

"_I am part of the future. Your future… and that is all I will say about myself. But this is why I know what will happen… Hiccup, you look like me so you're going to have to impersonate me and cure my Mother of the sickness. Just don't give her the lemur when she asks for it." The older Artemis quickly listed off some good neutral responses and at the end, he said: "The trigger for the plan's success is when Mother will tell you: 'No one can save you now.' For you, Toothless, your role is quickly explained; you must grab the barrel. You will know what I mean when we get to the point. And finally Artemis, you must subdue the assailant and sit on him until you know you can let him go. Now let's go, Opal is right on our heels…"_

The memory subsided; they would probably get time later to understand what was going on. For now, it was time for an escape.

And finally, like a late storm, Opal once again entered the Manor through the garage. It was time to crush some bugs… as she had said she would. There would be plenty of time for manic laughter later. For now, revenge was about to be served…

Urgh. It's late and I'm tired. This time I went for 7000 words… and got 7500. I don't know how I'm doing it (writing longer than I should)… but keeping it up shouldn't be too hard if I stay away from the alcohol. Well, I must be off to bed… see you all in two days… hopefully! If I can stay off the booze… meh, that should be no problem.


	24. Paradox

Keeping off the happy juice… heh. Last chapter was a devil to write. Fitting as it was chapter 23. Have you all heard of the enigma of the number 23? The fact that if you search hard enough for it then you can find 23 everywhere. There's even a Jim Carrey-movie with that number! The reason people fear the number 23 is because 2 divided by three equals 0.666 and seeing as 666 is the number of the beast… you can guess why people are afraid of the number. I wasn't afraid of the number… until I suddenly faced it. I felt like I was off my game… don't know if you noticed out there, but it was a hard chapter. This chapter felt way more like usual, so I hope you enjoy some more exploration of time as a concept.

Today's random statistic should be something different than hits! Hmm… I got it! My two favorite numbers: 6 and 21! The reason why these are my favorite numbers? 6 is the first perfect number (that just sounds awesome) which means that if you add together all the numbers that you can divide 6 with and end up with a whole number, you'll get the number itself. 6 can be divided by 3, 2 and 1 if you want to end up with a whole number. If you add these three together: 1+2+3 = 6. A perfect number! 21 is half the meaning of life – and is therefore better because if you know the meaning of life then life itself becomes pointless. If you only know half the meaning, then you still have something to strive for! Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 24: Paradox

A lot of things were happening at that point in time. Not in Fowl Manor – those events weren't really important… right? – but in the entire world a lot of things were happening at that point in time. Of course, it wasn't as if a lot of things wouldn't be happening every single second of every single day, but noting the fact that a lot of things were happening in this exact moment seemed to keep away the surrealism of the current mess of team HAT (**H**iccup, **A**rtemis, **T**oothless). It seemed to put things into perspective.

For one, Artemis. There was a lot of ways to shake him – not that he'd ever admit he had been, was or would be shaken by something – but one of the things that _currently_ shook him was thinking about his family. Artemis had desperately tried going for a tough guy exterior only to be felled by the most common of that stereotype's flaws – compassion. Because Artemis loved his family. There was no denying that if his Mother was sick, he would go beyond the ends of the Earth; he would travel to the ends of the universe or even further if it stood in his power and if it had even the slightest chance of succeeding. There was no denying that if his Father was missing, Artemis would draw upon his extensive network, using absolutely everything to find the man and bring him back; all of the rather bad memories of his father as a cold man lay forgotten.

But hearing that Opal was going to kill his brothers… that was what shook Artemis the most in this moment. While some people might get jealous if they suddenly had brothers, when their entire lives had been spent in solace, Artemis was not one of those people. He was actually positively surprised coming back from Limbo and finding he had brothers, as it gave him more time to plan and execute said plans, as keeping his brothers in the dark about some of his more _secret_ projects was easier than doing the same to his parents. And he also enjoyed the mental challenge his brothers' learning process was giving him – it had been one of the few things that had kept Artemis from withering at the adventure-less everyday life, he'd had until very recently. Now he supposed he could have done just fine without adventures. Artemis felt disgusted about what Butler had told him; who in their right mind – even Opal – would go as far as to kill a child? Or two even?

Toothless wasn't thinking quite as hard about things as Artemis. It rather came down to a numb pain in his right leg – his knee – and, of course, the centaur and the demon. While Artemis had told him about them on a boat an eternity ago, Toothless hadn't actually thought of anything to say should he ever meet them. And everyone had seemed quite content at the silence, so Toothless, who didn't know what to say, simply stayed silent. The centaur puzzled him; while the demon was cheery and happy, even when he just walking you could see it, the centaur seemed much more distracted. Not only that… the centaur had been sitting behind one of those flat windows that Artemis had used earlier to try and find out what time they'd ended up in – was it called a compunder? And what the hell was a recording (?)… that was the sole thing the centaur had said before becoming more distracted; so much so that he hadn't seemed to want to look up at the room again.

Finally the future Artemis puzzled Toothless. If he had predicted everything that was going to happen – even down to the barrel of animal fat (what the hell anyone would want with one of those, Toothless was unable to guess) – why couldn't he outright tell them what was going to happen and what he wanted them to do?

Hiccup hadn't been as surprised about the demon or the centaur or the… computer (that was its name, right?). No… he was not as surprised as feelings had sort of left him a bit uncaring as to what was actually happening around him. Hiccup was instead continuously mentally scolding himself for not seeing through the obvious. The future Artemis had said to not hand over the lemur. The future Artemis had said it would be over when Artemis' mother said the words: 'No one can save you now!' Why the Hel… why the HEL had he not figured out that this would mean some sort of involvement of Opal Koboi? This was magic! This was… just another part of his weird life and he was supposed to have guessed it! What mother would say 'No one can save you now'? How could he have been so… unfocused? He guessed it had had to do with his numb period.

Another thing that was getting to Hiccup was the part about Artemis family. The speaker that had echoed throughout the hallways and rooms of the Manor had said that Artemis' father and brothers were dead… how could she brag about something like that? Hiccup then thought up some on-the-spot irony – he thought that the Creator must have had something wrong when he named pixies and demons. Opal was the demon. And the demon had been anything but demonic. This thought in turn made Hiccup question his beliefs… _There are no fucking GODS…_ was there even a creator…? Well… something had to have happened at the beginning, right? But Simetra had been so sure in that statement… and Vikings had been wrong before…

All of these thoughts were all well and good, but that wasn't the reason why they needed the perspective to the world. It was the time tunnel they were currently passing through, that made all of them capable of seeing these exact thoughts in each other and the fact that they were currently going back in time _again_ to save Artemis family while regrouping and getting ready to fight Opal. There were so many things that needed to go exactly right without them even knowing how they should go. It was quite a lot of pressure. And it certainly didn't make the situation any easier when Simetra joined them halfway through their tunnel…

"Why are you doing this?" he asked in a calculated voice. It was in Dragonese; Artemis couldn't see any translator, but assumed Simetra had just learnt the language by himself. Then the question in itself made its meaning clear…

Artemis stared incredulously at him. "Why would you assume I wouldn't want to save my family?"

"Well… for one because it would change back the future that you've just changed. Your father and brothers are dead. That never happened in your original future. Therefore… if you say the word, I'll take this trial as completed. And then you will only be missing the last one…" Simetra secretly hoped he would take the offer… this would make everything so much easier. It would make everything go so much faster, too.

But Artemis wasn't having any of it: "You think… you can blackmail me? That your _trials_ take up every single second of every single day of my life, suddenly? That by _suggesting_ that I can get out of it by _simply_ MURDERING MY OWN FAMILY, I WOULD TAKE IT!" Artemis roared the last words, with every ounce of hate he had in him. Simmering with anger he asked in a whisper: "How… can you _ever_ have been me?"

Simetra considered manipulating time and rephrasing – as he would usually do, when something, he didn't want to actually happen, happened – but he was still reluctant to interfere with anything even remotely related to time control like that… so he simply vanished. Artemis was still huffing at the empty air; his anger was not put out easily. He had been serious with that question. How Simetra had ever been him… he would never know. But Simetra now seemed to be as far from Artemis as he possibly could.

Of course the other two all felt this too; Hiccup had rediscovered his irritation of Simetra's cowardice... that was the only way you could possibly see his exit as. For Toothless this was his first time actually seeing Simetra and it had not been a very good first impression. Of course… he had met with Simetra before… but only through Hiccup's memory could he actually see that particular conversation. That hadn't been a good first impression either. Confusing…

Artemis had of course also been checking Hiccup's memory of the alternate future out, now that they had the time, and though he wasn't surprised at him mastering his draconic abilities in the battle against Opal… he was surprised by the Artemis that had been inside the time hole. He almost wished he could know what had been going through his mind at that moment; Hiccup hadn't noticed the internal struggle, but Artemis certainly did. One moment looking at Hiccup as an object, an object without feelings, without any life, the next as the savior, the God that had rescued him… his friend… But the exact thought process was of course lost as Hiccup had not been able to read minds inside the time hole or outside of it for that matter. Another thing was the thoughts Hiccup had made about the older Artemis… and how these thoughts were confirmed by Butler; this wasn't an alternate future, an alternate universe. This was the original future, his future… And a third thing was Hiccup's reactions to everything after he'd come back – his missing feelings had to have stemmed from Simetra's uncaring persona and Artemis began feeling angry again… how much damage could one person actually do?

Finally calming down after this upsetting meeting, enough to lose the hateful thoughts, the end of the time portal was showing itself. It was No 1 who was using his own "time" to guide them to the when, so all Artemis had to do was focus on the where. That where soon turned out to be the meeting room – it was the easiest place to remember for Artemis when coming from an angry situation seeing as it was the place they'd left from. And the when…

They'd arrived in a time where a lot of choices had been made. It was… the day this whole mess had started. Right now "he", his almost four days younger self, was sitting obliviously in the living room – the twins were in the process of painting as he couldn't get them to learn anything for more than five minutes at a time – and in just three hours this entire adventure would be starting. He was back at the beginning, no, he was before the beginning. Should he… stop himself from going? Could that even work? Would he vanish as he'd seen through Hiccup's memory that people did? Could he do that to himself… or to Hiccup? Artemis realized he couldn't, for two reasons. For one, it would undo everything that had happened – mistakes that had been made would be redone another time, because he would forget about everything. And second, Artemis was still curious as to what Simetra was trying to accomplish.

Thinking about Simetra brought Artemis blood back to boiling point. How… why did he feel so angry? Was it instinctual, something that was part of him for the next eight hours? Or had Artemis at a base level changed as the rules of the world, the rules of reality had changed? Was he being true to himself in admitting that even he could become angry? Was it a loss of control? A superiority complex? Artemis suspected he wouldn't know the answer to that question either.

Deciding to regain control of the situation, Artemis was now determined he would find out who had started this mess. Thinking back to something that had happened a lifetime ago, Artemis remembered he had entered his study to find an article about time travel. That had to have been the trigger! Someone had turned on his computer and done an extensive search on the subject – of course the search had only just finished when Artemis had entered his study, but still... who had started the search? If it was Simetra himself… or could it be someone else? Who would want to know more about time travel other than himself?

"Hiccup, Toothless, I need you two to scout out and keep an eye on my brothers. Don't let them see you though. I will go… and find out something in the meantime. It shouldn't take long. You'll find them coming out of the living room… just be careful, as my past self is going to come out of the room and he must not see or hear you!" The last bit was emphasized by an intense glare at both of them… before he quickly explained how to get to the living room. When they'd gotten the message (with an extra warning thrown in at the end), Artemis suddenly realized something. His heart sinking, he looked at the camera on the wall. And breathing a deep sigh of relief as he realized the camera wasn't recording.

There was 350 cameras scattered all over the mansion grounds. Taking a video, twelve seconds long, was going to fill 3.85 megabytes of space when using one camera. Which meant that by the time you could finish the sentence "antidisestablishmentarianism, floccinaucinihilipilification and " an entire gigabyte of data would be filled. And seeing as there was 86600 seconds in just one day, 365 days in a year as well as about eighty to a hundred years in a human lifespan the total amount of space was exceeding the worth it would be to have every camera on constant recording. Only in emergencies was this function disabled – when Artemis needed a complete picture over everything. So right now the camera was dead… but not for long. They had only been speaking for about two minutes… and the cameras rotation was once every five minutes. All of this meant Artemis suddenly got a move on.

Scrambling to the door and opening it he quickly darted up the wall and clasped onto the ceiling. This was much harder than it looked, but Artemis was determined not to be discovered. He remembered Simetra's "advice" from earlier… _don't mess around with time_… and he knew that if he accidentally changed anything nothing good would come of it. He was trying to change the future _back_ not change it even further. He was – oh, the irony – trying to fail the second trial.

Clambering – noisily, at least to him – along the ceiling towards the study took quite a bit of skill… but after having seen what he could do, it didn't appear to be too much of a problem anymore. Artemis had entered "Focus Mode" where his one goal was to somehow get to the study. This made it infinitely easier to crawl upside down; it felt nearly natural. Nothing wrong with trying to imitate Spiderman. Artemis sighed; radioactive spiders did _not_ – contrary to popular belief – end up _somehow_ giving you the ability to crawl ceilings, no matter how many times you were bitten by it. Artemis had considered for a moment to take his usual route to the control booth to disable the cameras and not worry about it anymore… but then he remembered that Koboi would probably end up turning them on again… if she wasn't already there looking at his pathetic attempts to stay hidden from the ever watchful camera eye. Artemis groaned as he remembered he had forgotten to tell Hiccup and Toothless to stay out of the cameras way… he supposed they would have to leave it to luck.

It was there as it had always been. The camera that was able to see his study's door. Artemis had a few ways of going about this… he could wait until the rotation killed the camera. He could disable it manually going with either a quick dash with one of his claws or the tail or maybe even train his fire skills and do it with a fireball. He could also just completely uncaring wander through the door in plain view and hope there was no one on the other end. He decided the first for a number of reasons; for one, destroying the camera in any way would alert himself when he came walking by. Two, walking uncaring into the study might be a bad idea if Butler was still around to make his day miserable. And three… he had some time to kill. They'd arrived an hour early by the look of things.

He hung for two rotations before the camera finally stopped showing the telltale red light. This camera was more important than the others so it was usually on for quite a while. When the light dimmed he dropped to the ground and made his way into the study. It was the last possible second too as Butler made his hourly round at this exact moment – he would later swear that he saw the door move… but checking the room he didn't find anything. He never looked up though. And he didn't notice the slight crack in the glass watch that hung on the wall either… Breathing heavily from excitement and the effort of keeping himself in the current position, Artemis began his stakeout.

Half an hour later and nothing had happened. Artemis was beginning to worry nothing would show up. But then suddenly scattered pieces began to connect from his conversation with Butler… _You need to build your past… the only thing I can say is to save your father and your brothers… the only I can __**say**__…_ And it hit Artemis like a freight train. This was a time paradox. It wasn't a question of whether or not he should stop whoever had started this… it was a matter of choosing whether he _would_ start it. It had always been in his hands… paws. He was going to have to choose; right now. And his choice… was still the same as before.

But suddenly Artemis realized with shock that he was incapable of doing such things. He couldn't operate the computer! Quietly bursting through the door, no longer caring about being discovered by Opal if she was watching – and he knew Butler was now sitting at the front door reading fiction or something – Artemis ran towards the duo or at least towards where he'd guided them earlier. It didn't take long for him to reach the door to the living room. Hissing quietly, the closest a dragon could manage a whisper, Artemis called for Hiccup. He found them hiding where he'd told them – in an adjacent room. That was a lucky break as Artemis realized he did not have time for any of this. There was a mere quarter of an hour until his younger self would exit the living room and head towards his future. And they needed to hurry up.

Hiccup was surprised when Artemis had silently galloped down the hallway that Toothless and him had been stalking. But going with the flow seemed to be a new motto for him so when Artemis told him: "Get up!" Hiccup didn't question it. Artemis quickly instructed Toothless to follow the twins if he and Hiccup should be held up. And then Hiccup got onto Artemis.

In any other case Artemis would feel this as a breach of dignity. Realizing what Toothless was going through when he allowed Hiccup and guests to sit on his back, he realized the dragon might only use his pride as a mask. He was quite affectionate apparently towards Hiccup to let him sit on him. Because Hiccup (Artemis' body) was actually heavier than one might think. It wasn't because Artemis was heavy; it was because Artemis wasn't used to having to use his new strength on anyone else than himself. So getting used to having someone sit between your wings, just behind your neck, took more than a few too many seconds to get used to.

Hiccup wasn't any less awkward. When he was with Toothless… they entered a sort of magical understanding of each other. Nothing could go wrong when they were in the zone; they could of course misunderstand each other or get angry at each other, but it never took over the seriousness of their flight together, they always managed to keep level. Getting on the dragon for the sole reason of moving faster than humanly possible was a wrong feeling; it made it seem like Toothless' worst nightmare – to be nothing more than a horse, an exotic riding animal, a pet – but even more awkward was the fact that Hiccup was constantly thinking about getting onto "the dragon" or getting onto "Artemis" – not getting onto Toothless' body. Knowing it was someone else he was getting onto was a bizarre feeling. And finally the bond was of course gone, which made for a few moments where Hiccup felt uncomfortable not knowing what to expect from Artemis.

Finally they began moving. When they returned to the study, there was but ten minutes left. Nine minutes. Artemis quickly got in the room, to avoid the curious looks from the camera (Opal wasn't behind them yet… right?) and Hiccup got off and closed the door. Turning to Artemis, he asked: "What is it you wanted Artemis?"

"I… realized something needed to be done. I need you to turn on the computer, Hiccup." Artemis was dead serious when he said this, sending a glare that said 'No questions', but Hiccup couldn't keep his curiosity in check. So as he pressed the button on the screen to turn on the computer, he asked: "Why?"

"Because…" Artemis considered what he should say to instantly convince the teen. "Because if you do not you will find yourself waking from a bad dream, realizing you have no leg and live your life from there. You will most likely never know about me. Meanwhile, I will never be any the wiser as to the existence of dragons, the existence of alternate universes, the existence of my evil clone or… our friendship… Everything will be gone."

"Point taken. What now?" Hiccup gestured to the screen that had lit up. "I need you to open up a search program and type in the words 'time travel'. Can you do that?"

"You don't have to ask about me typing things… I think I can do that. But the search program… what is a search program and where do you find one or open one up?"

_Gah, no time for a discussion or an explanation._ Six minutes. The search usually took two – but could take as much as five. He had maybe… thirty seconds to explain what a search program was and tell Hiccup where to find one! Wasting no time to think, Artemis rapidly breathed out a quick explanation: "A computer is used to give answers. But as no one wants to sift through thousands and thousands of words, unless they are relevant to the subject, the search program was invented. It immediately tells you where you can find more information on what you are searching for. The search program is at the bottom of the screen, so just use the mouse to…" Artemis groaned. Hiccup didn't know what a mouse was.

"Use the thingy to move the cursor over the search program!" _What?_ Hiccup was thoroughly confused. But moving to the object Artemis was pointing at with his tail, Hiccup moved it. Inside the screen a small arrow did the same. "Yes… move the cursor over the search program and then type in 'time travel'. But please hurry!"

Hiccup wasted no more time in asking pointless questions – he had no idea what he was doing, but Artemis probably knew the best. His arguments were sound at least – losing a leg in return for forgetting all of this wasn't worth it. And Artemis was a good friend; his first human one that had seen past him owning a dragon or being the 'Dragon Master', he'd accepted him for who he was. Astrid… he thought had done the same… but Simetra was a lying bastard… Hiccup steeled himself. He wasn't about to lose Artemis or Astrid when he got back. Thirty seconds passed with trying to move the mouse over the search program. Artemis had programmed it so the search would pop up if you just moved the mouse over it – thank God for that decision; if Hiccup had also had to click one of mouse buttons… they'd still be standing here in three hours! – and when Hiccup finally did it, another minute was spent on typing in the word 'time travel'. Artemis then pointed to the "enter"-button and Hiccup pressed it.

Artemis knew they had no time to return to stalk the twins with Toothless; two minutes was too little time to return. And suddenly the doorknob began to turn… _It's too early! Or did we only arrive fifty-eight minutes early?_ Bringing a glance to the watch that hung on the wall, Artemis realized that the watch was moving too quickly… or was two minutes ahead when compared to the watch on the computer… perhaps it had broken when he'd jumped up the wall to the ceiling? _No time to think…_

Artemis entered the room. Walking over to the computer and firing it up, he expected to pass an hour by sending a decoy to Foaly. Then he looked over the room and found one of the computers was already on…

And meanwhile, dragon Artemis and Hiccup, who had been grabbed by the collar, dropped from the ceiling and sneaked out from behind Artemis. The boy never noticed that it took an unusual amount of time for the door to close… or the different smell in the room; he was too occupied with a new idea… He didn't notice Artemis making a gagging sound either, trying to rid himself of the taste of his own suit…

Toothless was a bit grumpy. Staking out with Hiccup could have had its moments, but alone… there was no fun in that. Only five minutes after Artemis had exited – it was frightening how much the Artemis he remembered from Berk and this one looked like each other – the twins had also decided to explore the world; or as much of the world that could be found inside the Manor. As they stood outside the living room, one of them immediately thought up a plan of hide-and-seek and the other complied. This would be a fun game…

Following them silently, Toothless followed the twins. It didn't take long for the two smaller boys to find what they wanted to find. It was a ladder. It led up to a trapdoor. Scampering up the ladder and quietly hushing each other as they did so, as to avoid being heard, the two boys quickly grew bored with hiding without anyone looking for them – where was their brother or their father? Moving around the attic and playing with the things that were up there began to take the two brothers' attention. Toothless stayed at the bottom of the ladder, in the bedroom that was beside the ladder and couldn't help but wonder how many bedrooms were in this place? Too many, Toothless decided, from what he'd seen.

It took some time but eventually Artemis and Hiccup found Toothless. Because Artemis had refused to tell the same explanation twice it was only now he told both Hiccup and Toothless of his discoveries. That it was them who had set this whole thing in motion. That if they had done nothing, then they wouldn't have needed to do anything – they would never have met. Headaches were passed around as if it was an infectious sickness. Artemis especially had a further headache as he realized it was actually a time paradox within another… and possibly within another. The first had been created when Opal had decided to follow them and exit too early to create the reason for the future Artemis to return to the past and thereby helped Opal to control time to a degree. But from that spawned the second one; the creation of Simetra. That one had created the first one. They were connected! And both of these together were engulfed by a third paradox that swallowed the other paradoxes whole. If Artemis had not done anything, then he wouldn't have moved as he had done. This would mean _all_ of it would never had happened, but because he himself had done something, now something else needed to be done.

It was time to save the twins. Hiccup climbed the ladder and found the twins in the process of dressing up in a dusty old black dress. It looked like it had belonged to Mrs. Fowl once, but the dress was way beyond its good days. The twins had been using it as a means to identify one twin as "the dark lord" and the other twin would then have to avoid touching the other in order to not turn into "the dark lord". But when Hiccup stuck up his heads, the two twins immediately assaulted the "new dark lord". This had been agreed to between the brothers by unspoken consensus. Hiccup was completely overwhelmed and didn't expect anything like it, so stumbling on the ladder he only just managed to grab onto the edge of the trapdoor that hung limply from the hallway. Hiccup managed to reach out with a foot and crawl back onto the ladder before dropping to the safe floor. He then simply called them down, reprimanding them a bit about how he could have gotten seriously hurt. On a further instruction from Artemis, who was hissing from behind the door to the bedroom, he continued with a lure: "We were in the middle of a learning process, were we not?"

The twins didn't realize what had just happened; so quickly had a mere game turned ugly. If Hiccup had fallen… the boys weren't thinking about that. Nothing had happened so there was no need to think of such things. They just congratulated each other on defeating "the dark lord" and decided it was time for humoring their big brother again. He was a bit weird. And simpletoon-ish. And he'd put on green eye contacts to really bring in the experience that he was "the dark lord"; after all both the boys knew that an evil being couldn't have one soft blue eye and one even softer hazel eye… "the dark lord" needed some sort of rare eye color, the best being red or black, but green was a fine choice too. The eyes hadn't had the same softness either… It had been a fun game…

A game that got even stranger, when Artemis suddenly pulled them into the bedroom and they came face to face with an incredibly lifelike dragon. It was pitch-black, covered in scales (it really was a dragon!), had eyes that glistened in the half-darkness of the room (they were even the same color as their big brothers') and it was ten times bigger than them. The two boys went instantly into total enthrallment. How had their brother kept such a cool holographic viewer hidden from them? Why hadn't he told them about it?

Then Myles realized it would probably be for the best if they acted surprised; it was probably the reason Artemis had kept this a secret from them – he was hoping to impress and scare them. Well… he'd gotten the impressive part down… but the eyes had the wrong "evil" color… so it wasn't really scary. However, these thoughts were quickly forgotten when the dragon spoke to them.

Beckett wasn't really listening to the dragon speaking; it was much more interesting to find out where the sound came from (this would determine the successfulness of the prank) and what other possibilities a holographic viewer could do for a new game. Stepping closer to the dragon and touching it seemed like a good idea… until he touched something solid. This brought forward a new kind of fascination. Artemis had actually solidified the hologram!

If Myles had bothered to think rationally for a moment he would realize the absolutely crazy implication that they had both seemed to come to. A solid hologram… where would Artemis _ever_ get the technology to do something like that? But both boys were so into the game they had just been playing that distinguishing game and reality had become impossible. He also noticed another man, or a teenager, but he didn't seem important. It was probably just someone Artemis had hired for this purpose.

Artemis had prepared a speech, but it seemed it was not necessary. So instead he said in his best role-playing voice: "So, two hopeful _contestants_ hope to make it out of the dungeon alive! Follow me… and see if you can stay alive." The boys were completely hooked as Artemis led them one further hallway and took them to the entrance to the wine cellar. In here… they would be safe, Artemis decided. After one and a half hour of intense role-playing in the wine cellar, both boys were dead tired. So when they fell asleep in a bundle on the floor it wasn't really surprising.

Gasping for breath, Hiccup and Toothless also took a much needed break. Toothless for one thought that it had to be easier to contain dragon kids; human kids had way too much energy in comparison or rather… they seemed to spend all their energy until they could do _absolutely_ nothing and then they would sleep completely spent before waking up and feeling instantly refreshed to do the same again. Dragon children were so much easier; you listened to your parents' instructions and if you didn't follow them a sharp word of caution was issued. Usually the actual punishment came from the fact that your parents only told you what was bad for you… and if you did it anyway like any curious dragon would do, you would find out exactly why it was bad for you. It was a punishment in itself. And when you had been curious enough times… then you didn't question your parents' authority anymore. Human children seemed to question _everything_, and even if they found out that things were bad, they would try again. Only if the thing actually backfired would they back down. Toothless sighed.

Hiccup had been a kid himself once, so he knew all about the curiosity. And having Fishlegs as an on-off "friend" had also brought him into role-playing so Hiccup was the game master. Smiling contently at knowing they now had a day to save Artemis' father and then only having to beat Opal to end it all, Hiccup fell asleep too. Not long after, Toothless followed suit. Artemis stayed awake for a bit. He made some calculations and with a smile realized this would be his final hours as a dragon; he would wake up human again! Finally ensuring he was hidden from someone who could accidentally walk in, he then fell asleep as well.

The next day never came though…

Waking up, Artemis realized he wasn't even in the wine cellar. He was… at the end of time again? But why?

Simetra smirked: "Having a bad dream again, Arty? That isn't good for you, psychologically speaking. It means you've had a rough day."

Artemis realized he was bodiless. He was invisible. He was like a ghost. "What…?"

"Ah, your ethereal presence in the world of dreams can't connect with the fact that your body isn't in fact yours. As a dragon, you shouldn't even have any dreams! But I wanted you to… understand what you've just done. Even after everything I told you… you still went ahead, didn't you?"

"What… did I do?" Artemis tried to compose himself. He was still mystified at this sudden visit, but he now understood that Simetra wanted to either gloat or be strange and confusing. "Out with it."

"Relax. All in due time. First… do you remember my advice to you?"

"Play with time and you get burned?"

"Exactly – summed up in merely seven words. I'm disappointed that you went ahead and did so anyway. Why Artemis?"

"I must confess I have no idea of what you speak. I merely altered the fact that my family dies, as I was told to do."

"No. You misunderstood what you were told it seems. And if you can't figure out this puzzle, then you are stuck in your own personal time loop. I must say it is a bit funny to see you in my predicament. But... time is wasting… and you must really begin waking up… let's see if you can't make it even worse for yourself…" Artemis looked at him. Everything seemed to get further and further away, his vision began darkening. And then darkness consumed everything.

Artemis woke up. He was still a dragon. _What time is it?_ He could vaguely remember a dream of Simetra – focusing he even began making out some of the details and after ten minutes he could remember everything. Had he failed the transition? But… his brothers were still alive… that left his father! Was his father in danger? Was he still alive? And was that what Simetra was trying to tell him? Quickly getting up and leaving the rest of the sleeping group on the floor, he exited the wine cellar… only to bump into his father who was about to enter the wine cellar. His father immediately collapsed onto the floor in a disorderly heap. Artemis sighed… but at least his father was okay. Dragging his body into the wine cellar, Artemis deemed that he was now also safe. He quickly checked his father's Rolex. It was… they had slept sixteen hours! How was that possible? Shouldn't the punishment have ended by then?

Artemis made a decision; he'd try to fall asleep again and contact Simetra again. After a bit of restlessness, Artemis finally calmed down… and as he fell asleep, he again found himself at the end of time. Simetra was staring expectantly at him with a vampiric grin clearly evident beneath the surface. After a bit of uneasiness and balancing problems, Artemis then regained himself and asked: "You said, the punishment only lasted twenty-four hours! Did you lie to me?"

"As I told you… you've entered a time loop. This means that you have to find some way out of it, like I did. Oh, yes, I've been in one of those things too… nasty things. Usually only one or two exits. You have to do something that will please the original future as well as the alternate future you've tried to create. Trust me, it's insanely hard."

"Time loop?"

"Well, seeing as you're already caught, I suppose I can pity you. Opal said she had already _killed_ your family; Butler said you should _save_ your family. Do you see the problem? …Mmh. No? Then allow me to explain. You have tried to _rewrite_ the future. Just as Ms. Koboi did when she killed off the younger version of Holly Short and time reacted unstably by, in the end, creating a time hole. So now instead of a time hole, you are facing a time loop. You will continuously attempt the same situation… until you've completed the riddle; you need to find the connecting factor between the two futures – the one that was and the one you've tried to create. You will not age, but you will remember every attempt… and as a fun fact, I can tell you that you are currently outside the boundaries of time and therefore the punishment will not end. And because of this, if you _die_ you will merely restart! Not even death will save you…"

Artemis found he could not retort to this. He'd saved his family now… but Opal had killed them in the other future? How was he going to find a connection between that?

"Well, I suppose it will be quite painful the first time around as time will first need to destabilize. Sort of like another example of the string; if you bend the string over backwards so the end of the string collides with its own body, then there aren't a lot of fibers that actually move through the entire string and out on the other side. Only one solution as far as I can tell… Wake up and smell the roses, Arty…"

Simetra then cut the connection with Artemis and sent him back. That should lead Artemis on the right track. Though it wasn't in his nature to help, he knew he had to… for the sake of his ultimate goal.

Artemis woke up again. None of the others had woken up… but another sixteen hours had passed according to his father's wristwatch. Why had none of the others woken up yet? Artemis tried to wake Hiccup, but found he couldn't. But as he tried… he didn't notice and yet he noticed… he tried to do something and yet he didn't do anything… as time split apart from the inside. And Artemis fell into an eternal darkness… pain was everywhere. It was like his being itself was being run over by steamroller. Finally after what seemed like hours, Artemis woke and found himself in the meeting room.

He could only think: _What the hell is happening?_

I dare you to say that sentence (you know the one) in twelve seconds or less. My best time was 11.2 if anyone's asking! It is a combination of three of the longest English words, courtesy of Wikipedia. Hope this was a better chapter than the last! Two more days pass!


	25. Loop

SO SORRY! Internet died… Read on if you need specifics:

The more specific reason is the being known as a "parent". My mom grounded me (yes, you read that right, grounded a 17-year old kid) from using any computer! Because the internet suddenly decided to fake its death. Of course I was blamed for quote "Listening to music on Youtube!" In case you didn't know Youtube is capable of destroying your internet (massive sarcasm!)… right… So while my mom is a complete newbie at technology (We're talking **major** newbie, to the point of these groundless accusations) my dad is the complete opposite! Three days passed and then our internet was working again because of my dad's technical genius. He makes a living by programming computers. Actually, my parents are opposites in almost every aspect. My mom is crazy about cleanliness, my father can go for a month before he cleans his apartment O_O. My father relaxes in front of the TV at least six hours a day while my mom can't go for a day without either swimming 1.5 km or running 8+ km O_O. The only thing they had in common around the time they got me was table tennis! My mom doesn't play anymore, but my father does.

2000 hits is a great accomplishment (by the by, it's actually 2100 now, thank you everyone!), but today's random statistic should still be about something else that has come to my attention: On every day ending on an 8 (the 8th, the 18th and the 28th) almost no one reads my story? Weird… I think that is a bit more random than steadily increasing hits ;-). I must now think up something even more random for the next installment… Meanwhile, enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 25: Loop.

Simetra wasn't exactly a person you would think of connecting with the word "goodnatured". So why was it that he'd helped Artemis understand what was going on; why was he breaking sound and solid rules, rules that had been held for billions, trillions, quadrillions of years without ever failing him? Why was he dealing information to his enemies – the people who would want nothing more than his corpse served on a platter to be eaten at a later date? The reason was, as all things generally are, simple.

As stated the rules Simetra had set for himself were solid, they were infallible _as long_ as the base understanding of the situation was the same. No further comment on what that 'base understanding' involved. However, now that situation had drastically changed. And seeing as Artemis, Hiccup and Toothless were Simetras only experiment currently running, he'd have to put his faith – Simetra retched from that word; it was weak and useless… but he couldn't deny its charm in this moment – in the three people who probably hated him more than anything in the world.

The game had changed. Radically. Dramatically. And Simetra was… forced to react. So… the natural way of reacting to such a gamebreaker as had happened behind the scenes, was by cheating a bit. And Simetra didn't have any qualms about cheating. However, apparently Artemis was a slow one – every single one of them as a matter of fact – so Simetra had to cheat twice in a row. He had to interfere with his experiment's dream _without_ dealing the required punishment for 'helping'. He knew he could not postpone a punishment for a third time – so he would have to put his… something about faith… in the combined skills of his experiments. Pathetic. He was supposed to be fixing things, not cowing like a rabbit caught in a headlight… but did he dare to try to use any of his powers? No… not yet…

So now the rest was up to the three thickheaded… _well, not even they could screw this up with the amount of information I just spilt. Ugh… before long my weakness will shine like a light tower does in absolute darkness._ Returning to the console, Simetra observed his experiments and how they proceeded…

(Fowl Manor – second take)

"Are you serious?" Toothless asked.

"A time loop?" Hiccup asked.

"Yes. I am serious. But whether we should believe any of it is still undecided. I mean, Simetra would get so much more _fun_ out of seeing us trying the wrong approach. But his explanation did make sense… if Opal shouted she had killed my family, and Butler said that he'd heard from my future self" Artemis quickly thought, _I am also interested in his role and where he comes into play_, "that I would save my family, then there is some kind of misunderstanding in between."

Toothless took a moment to think it over. "I'm not sure we should be so willing to trust Simetra. We know he's lied to us before."

Hiccup was willing to agree with Toothless… but he was also someone who used to see the good side in people. Though Simetra was the exception to that rule… Hiccup didn't really see the good side in him… he supposed that it did make sense. Simetra had earlier used the term "time loop" and it was supposed to be bad. Simetra had also said _he_ was caught in a time loop, but that was probably just a way of trying to gain attention and sympathy from Hiccup… or was it? …why did it have to be so hard to see the difference between truth and falsity? Eventually Hiccup sighed and admitted: "Well, we don't have anything better to try, do we?"

Toothless grumbled. He tried to figure out if there was anything else that could fit with their current situation… what if… "Well… this might be a long shot, but couldn't Simetra have us transported to an alternate universe; he showed himself in our time tunnel, couldn't he have made the switch there?"

"As much as I'd like to agree with you, I don't think so. His appearance in our time tunnel looked impulsive… unplanned. And so did my dream. He had almost no snide remarks… and it was extremely informal… no, I think what he says is actually close to our situation. The question is… is everything correct or is he leaving something out? Remember, part truths are the best lies." Artemis said.

He continued: "But it might be easier to actually test it out. If we try to do everything as we did… and see if people react the same then we could at least try it out. Of course, we can't be sure… Simetra could be, no, he _is_ watching right now, so I think that if he didn't want us to realize we were constantly changing to alternate universes, I think he would be capable of hiding such a thing. But for now, we need to try and do these things one more time. If it works, we can further discuss what we should do. If not, then… well, we're going to have to take that as it goes."

Hiccup agreed silently; the compromise sounded good. If they did everything as they had done once already, then even if it was an alternate universe, nothing terrible would happen, right? "So, we try to do _exactly_ what we've already done?"

"Picture perfection, if you can manage." Artemis said. And with that he was out of the door, imitating a certain spider… and once again forgetting everything about even bothering to explain that there was cameras watching. Or what a camera was.

Toothless shrugged. Having to do the same twice in a row was pretty dull. Especially since his job consisted of… watching kids. Kids who had no restrictions and were clever enough to pull a prank, but at the same time kids who didn't think of the consequences of the more dangerous pranks. Another thing: Role-playing was not his _thing_.

(Fowl Manor – third take)

Role playing was _not_ his thing! Oh, man perhaps… perhaps he could fight his instincts should they ever demand of him to get an heir. Toothless suddenly feared if his mating season ever came round… perhaps… perhaps he could ask Hiccup to hide him in some cave? Or bind him as his father had done – with chains and everything? Just so he couldn't have any kids… Human kids had way, way too much energy for their own good, and Toothless was scared if the same applied to dragon cubs.

"So… looks like everything checked out?" Hiccup stated. They had all three just exited the portal for the third time – the very same – still ending up in the meeting room. _Before_ that, or after that chronologically, or the repeating before that was chronologically an after, but was for them now just another before, they had all just experienced the exact same thing happening twice. The amount of detail in how much was the same was unbelievable.

"I think we can say that Simetra told at least part of the truth. We _are_ in a time loop. Now… the only question left is the riddle. Whether or not the solving of the riddle will actually free us or if it's just one of Simetra's jokes. And if the former is assumed, how do we solve the riddle?" Artemis said. _Opal needs to kill my family while I save them. How does that work?_

Hiccup thought about this for a moment. Quickly realizing he wasn't the best at solving riddles, Hiccup continued on to thinking about what he could do instead. And this thought brought him to an incredible discovery. "Artemis…?"

"Mm, what?"

"We're caught in a time loop, yes? Doesn't that mean we have an infinite amount of time… to do whatever we need to do? We could see everything in this place and try and find a way out that way! Then we don't have to think about the riddle: If we try everything, then we're bound to find something, right?"

(Fowl Manor – fifth take)

"Uhh…" Hiccup looked around at the others who were beginning to look a bit overcooked.

(Fowl Manor – eighth take)

Silence. No one spoke; they merely looked at each other in understanding.

(Fowl Manor – eleventh take)

"I think we need to change strategy. We're getting nowhere." Toothless said exasperatedly.

(Fowl Manor – sixteenth take)

"Arrgh. That is it. I can't sleep anymore! I just can't!" Artemis exclaimed.

Artemis, Hiccup and Toothless were all looking like they had just eaten something very nasty. While some people could end up looking like this because of sleep deprivation, this was not the case here. The "case" was however too much sleep. It had taken six tries, but all three now agreed that it seemed when they made a "mistake" – as in a mistake which meant that they no longer had any chance of escaping the loop on that try – they began feeling extremely sleepy. It was like… time was naturally defending some of the possible futures, and when something that definitely didn't happen, tried to happen, time immediately began cutting its losses.

Hiccup had died twice already. Artemis had not even once – being a dragon had its perks. Toothless had died five times – apparently looking like Hiccup wasn't a good thing in the modern day and age. Opal had finished Hiccup off twice, since he looked like Artemis, while Toothless also got roasted. Artemis had managed to get away simply by being a dragon and Opal having some sort of sick twisted dream of riding one – even if it was sleeping. The three remaining times went to professional pistol handling by Domovoi Butler as he tried to protect what looked like Artemis from an unknown person who had somehow entered the Manor. Of course this again meant that "Artemis" passed out to sleep some more. And the dragon Artemis had for obvious reasons not approached Butler. When "Artemis" had approached Butler alone, he'd been shot with a tranquilizer dart. And that loop had failed after that. From what the Viking and the dragon could tell Artemis, death was nothingness. Or they couldn't actually remember anything but dying. Death came after dying… and yet it didn't come to them.

Hiccup was just about sick of Fowl Manor. He was sick of the reactions the different people living in Fowl Manor had. He was sick of trying to find a way out. And they had only had sixteen tries! How the Hel had Simetra held himself together for millions of years… or more? Hiccup had decided that Simetra had probably been in a "time loop"; it was the only way Simetra could have ended up as mentally disturbed as he was. Hiccup was beginning to yield to Simetra's argument: Perhaps "variable control" wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Toothless was quite ready to quit trying to get out of this. It was ridiculous how easily they could fail; the precision needed to pull off this future was beyond what they could accomplish. Toothless could begin to feel the clutches of despair. Black tendrils grasping around his heart trying to break him down. _You will never be a dragon again_, the voices said. _You will never die. You will never escape. You will never result to anything. No one will come for you. You are doomed. You are cursed to forever wander this Manor. You are…_ and so on.

So when Artemis cried out to whoever was listening in the sky, Toothless and Hiccup sympathized with Artemis… but they were all in the same boat. What could they do? "Calm down, Artemis… we've only been through this sixteen times. You can't expect us to just find the correct combination of actions already…" Hiccup's attempt at calming down Artemis died in his throat as he realized he could not make any arguments he believed in as well. _Only sixteen times. Sixteen times…_

Artemis turned to Hiccup. "_Only_ sixteen times? … no! no more! We sit down, here and now, and we figure out what we're supposed to do! And for starters, we assume that the riddle is our ticket out of this. It can't be that hard to solve…" Artemis tried to get his brain to start functioning, but after having spent 480 hours out of the past 560 sleeping, even Artemis was beginning to break down. Their problem was that no matter what they did they always ended up doing something wrong… and they usually had no idea what. They'd gathered that they were to reveal themselves to the twins and turn on Artemis computer, but after that everything began falling apart. Nothing seemed to go from there.

Butler was standing guard outside the door to… what had been Holly's prison. Artemis knew that they were in the process of finding him which they had when Simetra "helped" him to be transported back during the first trial. But Butler was in a very volatile state at the moment and every attempt they had made at approaching him had ended in Toothless dying and Artemis and Hiccup promptly falling asleep. Opal had meanwhile set up shop at the control booth. She showed up at the exact same time as the past Artemis left through the portal and Butler beginning to panic. The two times she had actually done anything had been when they had tried to enter the control booth.

_Opal needs to kill my family, at the same time I save them. That is the riddle. Now… does one thing exclude the other? If Opal kills my family… then I cannot save them. If I save my family… then Opal is not capable of killing them. Either way this is an equation in which there has to be unseen variables…_ Artemis suddenly thought of something. He knew _he_ had a future: The future Artemis was the one who had set this particular train in motion by telling Butler! But… where was Toothless or Hiccup in his future? Did the correct future involve… death? True death? Artemis suddenly felt torn in two; he was happy – it was a sick sort of happiness and one he tried to keep down – about the fact that _he_ would at least get out of this mess… but he was also torn apart with guilt that he didn't know if Hiccup or Toothless would survive.

Unseen variables…

Artemis then had an idea. Perhaps they had attacked this situation all wrong.

(Fowl Manor – Seventeenth take)

"This is a good idea, Artemis. But we still need to figure out the answer to the riddle. Not that we're in any hurry anymore…" Toothless argued. Artemis had thought of _staying_ in the meeting room. Thirty-six hours later and neither of the three had passed into the dream-world. Which meant that if they stayed in the meeting room, then for the entire duration of the loop they still had the chance to find the correct future.

Getting to actually use thirty-six hours instead of sleeping them away did wonders to the morals of the group. Not only that, they'd actually gotten the chance to discuss how to proceed. Two minutes at the start of each loop hadn't really been enough time to discuss what to do and they'd always been busy trying to see how things unfolded if they did this or if they did that. They hadn't had time, even though time was all they had left.

But they hadn't discussed for thirty-six hours. Thirty-four hours had been spent on the three exchanging information; training, if you will, on how to be another. They had neglected this particular action earlier – they'd had no time – but they needed each other's skills in a situation such as this. Toothless now had absolutely no weakness; it was as natural for him to walk, jump and run on two legs as it had been on four. Hiccup had been taught the ways Artemis knew how to use his own magic. This was merely a precaution as Hiccup hadn't any useable magic left – for that he would need to perform the Ritual – but they agreed that if it came down to it Hiccup should try and perform it. It would give them an extra edge. And finally Artemis had learned the correct postures for flying and had at the end of the loop tested breathing fire. This had ended the loop with a bang of course, but neither of the three had "slept" for more than five minutes before the loop ended.

And here at the start of the seventeenth repeat of the two days, in which this entire ordeal had begun, they now felt refreshed and ready to take on the ravages of the time loop again.

Artemis sighed. It might be that what Toothless was saying was correct… but having all the time in the world didn't necessarily be a good thing. Artemis finally realized exactly how dangerous the concept of immortality was. It might be that you would never die… but that meant that you never died! It was the ultimate lure, the prospect of living forever, and yet actually living forever meant that you _had_ to live. There were no breathers… no relaxation… you just _had_ to continue on forever. Artemis remembered he'd once thought about immortality, tried to break into the mentality of being immortal, but what had at the time seemed promising now seemed sickening.

_Opal needs to kill my family, I need to save them. She needs to say she has killed my family… while… Butler needs to say I've saved them! That's it!_ "I got it!" Artemis suddenly exclaimed.

Hiccup looked at Artemis confused. "What did you get?" Toothless also looked interested. He hadn't really expected an answer from Artemis… but perhaps Artemis was onto something already? It couldn't hurt to listen…

"I know the answer to the riddle! If Opal _says_ she has killed my family, just as Butler _says_ I have saved them… then there are two answers to this riddle. Just as Simetra said… one or two exits. The first is a future in which we _save_ my family from Opal and show Butler _how_ we've saved my family, after which Opal then kills my family without Butler finding out. The second is a future in which we make Opal _think_ she has killed my family, but where we fake her death. We then somehow inform Butler that my family is alright. Do you see? It wasn't a question about how to make two opposite futures happen at the same time, it was about how to censor information to the two parties to ensure that one of the two possible futures could happen. I think our best bet is to make Opal believe she has killed my family. And for that to work… we're going to need some planning. I think we should sacrifice this loop to figure out the best way of making Opal believe she has killed my family, while Butler knows we have not."

Small creaking sounds could be heard as Hiccup's brain began to overload from that explanation. Information censoring? Trust Artemis to come up with that one! But Hiccup understood the implication from the last part of the explanation; they were saving Artemis' family, not condemning it. The teen had a heart… even though he wasn't used to showing it.

"That sounds reasonable," Toothless stated. He was beginning to see a bit of hope. If they had all the tries they could possibly want to find out a way of reconstructing Artemis' past while saving Artemis' family and fooling Opal, then it shouldn't be too much of a hassle… or maybe it would as had been proven by their earlier attempts. So troublesome. "Any suggestions how we do this?" he asked.

Artemis perked up. He had a rather explosive idea in mind… brought on by an action taken earlier by Hiccup…

(Fowl Manor – Twentieth take)

"Ok, so the grenade launcher wasn't the best of ideas, but explosions usually does cover up faking one's death pretty well," Artemis defended. "And while I know it wasn't optimal, the fact that we tried using my magic, or… Hiccup used my magic," Artemis seemed to begin confusing himself even, "anyway, it was worth a shot."

Hiccup disagreed. While the performing of the Ritual had been fun – even though the power boost had only held a fraction of the 'power' he'd felt when he could control time with Simetra – and reenergizing, having to heal Artemis' family after they'd been hit by a lightning bolt… wasn't as much fun as advertised. Especially cause Opal had immediately discovered their attempt of healing Artemis' family which resulted in their own untimely termination. The nineteenth take hadn't gone much better; instead of having Opal actually kill them, they had convinced Artemis' family to jump out the window (yeah, actually they had promised to catch them… but if it was what was necessary…). Opal would then look down and see three dead bodies… but in actuality they were still alive, only dying. The problem with this method was that while Opal actually lost interest immediately in the dying Fowls Hiccup didn't have enough magic to heal all three. Which again meant a failure. So it hadn't been worth a shot. But of course they wouldn't have known that unless they'd tried.

Artemis was still musing over his failures out loud; trying to voice his thoughts could perhaps allow him to make associations, which could bring him to an epiphany. "Magic is definitely a part of this equation… Perhaps I could… no, that's stupid… or maybe…" While Artemis would have given a lot to be in his study with all of his collections of classical music safely hidden away on the Fowl server, he knew he could simply replay it all in his head. Deciding to go with Chopin's Minute Waltz for its uplifting tempo and as a dedication to one of the few people Artemis acknowledged as a true genius at his work, Artemis began planning.

Both Hiccup and Toothless had seen the faraway look Artemis had suddenly gotten along with noticing his sudden silence. They kept quiet as they recognized the look as the one Artemis had when he was thinking. A mere two and a half minutes later, Artemis lifted his head and said: "I think I've figured out a way around this deadlock. Simply put… We need to wait. We must allow things to unfold until the very last minute. Of course, we will at first create my own future as still being here by turning on the computer. However after that we must not do anything… Do you remember the twelfth time through – where we followed my father? We _saw_ my father find the twins hiding in the attic; this means that at that point they are all still alive. From that point however, we must take action. I propose the following…"

(Twenty-five hours later)

Well, they hadn't been waiting. And yet they had been waiting only they hadn't just been sitting around on their asses doing nothing while waiting. Hiccup and Artemis had started off by getting to the study and turning on the computer. Then getting to Tara as quickly as possible to perform the Ritual. And then back again… it took a while, but Artemis found he had stamina – the guy who had performed a total of two hours of physical exercise in his entire life had stamina! – and enough of it to run back and forth through the wilderness, through the darkness of the night with Hiccup on his back. Meanwhile, Toothless had been preparing for the later stages of the plan.

They had then waited for the entire day, as it unfolded, complete with the arrival of fairies, panicking bodyguards, unraveled nerves and unrestrained effort. Artemis was a bit touched by the amount of effort the group seemed to put in his rescue… he made a silent note to remember this and pay them back later.

And now both dragon and rider was hidden in a dark corner, watching Artemis' father finally finding the two sleeping kids who had fallen asleep beside each other on the dark attic floor among bundles of old clothes and books. Artemis' father was in the process of carrying them down, momentarily considering if he should call Butler, but deciding it would be his duty as a father to take care of his children more than he'd done Artemis. It was a tough job with his prosthetic leg… but he managed it. He had started by bringing Myles down into the smaller bedroom right beside the ladder to the attic, and was now carrying Beckett. Beckett had drool wandering down his cheek and was completely oblivious to his father carrying him down the ladder.

After depositing the tired boys in the bedroom, Artemis Fowl Sr. began making his way to his own bedroom. He was so tired… he could barely stand upright. Which was why when a huge dragon suddenly jumped down from nowhere, he suddenly realized he was dreaming and passed out. Hitting the floor rather hard could have woken him up, but he was still completely out of it.

Artemis sighed. His father was so different; from the past where he'd been all business to the now where he was… anti-business and pro-family. He had apparently been up for quite a while searching for the twins sacrificing his sleep for finding the twins. And finally, after a tip-off from a distracted Butler, Artemis father had went for the attic… only to be redirected to take a phone-call. Something about a Greenpeace demonstration… Then he had to be there for his sick wife, and before you knew it six hours had passed. So again he was going to the ladder leading to the attic… only to be redirected by another phone-call. That meant another five hours slipped away as it was a bit more important this time around… something about an earthquake. When Senior had finally finished directing the humanitarian groups he was leading he had again tried to find the twins. And third time was the charm… he'd found the boys! But upon seeing something as unnatural as a live dragon, the adult Artemis passed gratefully into unconsciousness expecting to wake up with the memory of a very livid dream, but nonetheless only a dream.

Artemis had Hiccup help him gather his father and the twins on his back before slowly marching through the hallways of Fowl Manor (they were quite heavy!), specifically avoiding the hallway with Butler in it – Artemis couldn't quite remember what time he'd returned through the portal to greet them all shortly, but it had to be around now, so Artemis simply stayed away from there – and made his way towards the hangar. It was a short trip to the lobby and then crossing the huge garden that was situated behind the Manor. Of course, there were also huge gardens on the left side of, the right side of and in front of the Manor, but for now it was the garden behind the Manor that was being trudged beyond recognition by a determined dragon. Hiccup followed behind every step of the way, occasionally posing for the cameras in the hallways.

This particular course of action brought out Opal sooner than she would have liked. She would have preferred the pesky time travelers, whom she knew was in the house, to be a bit more predictable in their actions. This action… was unprecedented and stupid and made Opal wonder how she could have ever lost to someone as stupid as Artemis Fowl. And three times already no less. So for Opal it was a simple matter of… wait a second. Why were they moving towards the hangar…? Suddenly, Opal smirked. She had one of her brilliant moments, moments where her perfection was even more perfect than perfection itself. Originally she had intended to simply send off a few bolts of lightning, roasting the father and the kids… this would in the end give incense to the time travelers to save the remaining family member, the _oh so sick_ mother. And then she would spring the trap… But now, she realized that the dragon had planned to send away his family in the jet that was parked in the hangar. And this fit perfectly with Opals plans.

Not many people knew the defense system of Fowl Manor. Butler, Juliet and perhaps the combined effort of Artemis Fowl jr. and sr. plus a scan made by the fairies could uncover what lay hidden in the darkest reaches of the residence. Because Opal had been gawking when she had found the controls for the weapons storage vaults… this family had just about everything. And Opal had simply activated all systems and redirected the power to the control booth to allow her to stay in one secure location to await the reaction of the outside world. Yes, Koboi had activated the much debated SAM-battery that was located underneath the garden on the right side of the Manor. And yes, the Fowls had an honest to God anti-air battery in case of emergencies. The amount of money contra the possibility that it was ever used was ridiculous, but nonetheless it appeared Artemis Fowl sr. had been prepared for the alien invasion. And as for what was underneath the other gardens… were a mystery to be solved at a later date.

Opal realized she would simply wait for takeoff, press the clichéd 'big red button', yank a key around (because who would ever believe a press of a button would be enough confirmation for a computer, seriously) and then sit back and enjoy the show. Opal had always been fascinated by explosions, one of nature's most violent, beautiful reactions. It symbolized getting rid of your feelings instead of letting them stay pent up inside. Opal knew that anger wasn't good for her perfect – would never be anything but perfect – complexion so simply getting angry when she felt angry would have to work wonders. Anger worked exponentially so if she could get it out of her at an early stage it wouldn't be damaging at all… or so Opal believed.

Opal was momentarily thrown, as she realized her adversary had destroyed the camera on the inside of the hangar. But then she heard something that made her calm down…

The plan was in motion. A deep rumbling came from the northeastern corner of the Fowl Manor grounds. It was the sound of Artemis Fowl jr.'s custom-built sun-powered Cessna that was taking off into the soon-to-be twilight. The sun was going down over a blood red sky. _It is almost poetic,_ Opal thought, as she pressed the big red button. And confirmed the press with the yank of a key. A swishing sound permeated the air as two S300 missiles (imported a long time ago from unknown parts of Russia), exited the underground silos and made their way towards the target. The target didn't even get a chance to react as a massive explosion engulfed the jet.

Red and yellow colored wisps of fire exploded outward. A shockwave of epic proportions ripped the plants, bushes and trees nearby from their roots and sent them flying and crashing. A wave of noise so loud a few of the more stylistically inclined, thinner, mosaic-painted windows of the Manor exploded, sending glass shards everywhere. The explosion itself reflected off the earth sending tons of dirt everywhere and making the explosion less round and chaotic and more like a fountain of destruction. Clattering sounds could be heard for several seconds as rocks and leftover dirt fell to the ground after having been rocketed skywards. As the dust cleared, the smoke evaporated more and more, only a burning shell of a plane was seen on Opals screens. There was some pretty hefty firepower in those things Opal concluded, munching a chocolate truffle as she enjoyed the show. No one wanted to know where Opal had found the truffle… but in actuality it was because the security manager, who had installed the booth quite a few years back had had the same obsession with the little buggers. And he had forgotten the last one in a random drawer… which Opal had then found. But Opal paid no mind to the unusual taste of the truffle…

She would have to find that pesky dragon again. Grumbling as she realized it wasn't in any of her shots – only the Artemis Fowl-lookalike, who was actually a Viking or something stood outside the hangar seemingly looking concerned at the exploded field, and she could only see that with a horrible zoom-in; the quality dropped like a stone did from a high building – she quickly thought over the options. Had the dragon run to the downed plane? Opal couldn't see the dragon… and the burning field didn't look like it was experiencing any disturbance. Perhaps the dragon had run away… to roar at the sky or something… which wouldn't do him much good. Smirking again at this thought, Opal then turned her attention to more pressing matters. The ghost of the smirk was already gone: A new situation was unfolding and she had _no_ time to be questioning the authenticity of the death of the Fowls.

Opal focused on the _extra_ Artemis Fowl that was now meeting with the group that had spent the last twenty-four hours, or at least close to that amount of time, inside some room. They were meeting in the hallway and it appeared the Artemis Fowl was keeping the group from rushing to the explosion site. _More time travelling?_ Quickly looking over the last ten minutes of footage Opal saw a scene… A massive portal was engulfing on one side of the room… and happiness and relief was apparent all around the room. Opal groaned from the impending headache that time travelling gave her. She made a note: _Time travel. Never to be taken up again…_ But for now she had to be on top of what was going on so she had absolutely no time to focus on her other monitors…

(Crash site)

And that was a mistake. Because the death scene was fake. Opal was being fooled by one of the most downright embarrassing tricks in the history of covert operation. Artemis had three cameras on the outside wall of the Manor pointing towards the right side garden. All of these cameras were of the extremely accurate 2000-pictures per second kind… or they should have been. However, Artemis had told Toothless where to find the old models, as they hadn't been thrown away in case Artemis could use the technology, and it was a simple matter of explaining what Toothless should do. They weren't even discovered because of the rotation system the cameras used, and in five minutes Toothless had installed both types of cameras at the same time. The highly advanced cameras and the "one picture every ten seconds"-type of camera. Opal never noticed she had three bad sources of information and three good ones as she was completed entwined with the beauty of the explosion. She didn't know there was only supposed to be three good ones…

The embarrassing part was this: Toothless had then taken a picture of the crash site and stuck it to the camera so that the camera took the same picture every time. It was a bit more advanced than that – having to wait until the five minute rotation scheme kicked in, actually figuring out how to make the double connection at the same time and finally figuring out how a Polaroid color camera worked – but it had succeeded. And now only the three cameras that continuously sent back the same picture remained active.

Artemis rolled out from under the crashed airplane, unfolded his wings and revealed the still sleeping/unconscious forms of his family. His plan had hinged on the fact that he was: 1: Strong enough to take the punishment of 2-3 missiles. The shockwave still hurt, but it hadn't been as bad as the plane had taken most of the initial force. 2: Fireproof everywhere on his body except the inside. Which meant he had to close his mouth. Not such a big deal. And of course 3: Could stay on the Cessna under the cover of the dying sun to avoid detection, as he was sitting on the outside of the plane with his family wrapped inside of his wings to protect _them_ from the fiery explosion. The autopilot in the form of a wrench had worked marvelously. And somehow all three things had been successful in the first try! Artemis allowed himself a moment of peace. He had instructed Hiccup to make a bit of a show for the cameras, then come in about five minutes. And Toothless was probably in the middle of trying to find a way down from the roof. So Artemis had a few minutes of… relaxing. Of taking in the feeling of victory. This was how a plan came together.

Not that his plan hadn't been completely reckless. Blowing himself up? Really? If Artemis hadn't been absolutely sure that by having Hiccup help in securing his wings around his parents would be enough to keep them all safe, he wouldn't have attempted it. If he hadn't been absolutely sure Toothless was extremely well versed in learning new things, he wouldn't have attempted it. If he hadn't been extremely confident in the information they had gathered from the last few loops – as boring as it had been to go through the same day and a half twenty times, at least they now knew a whole lot about everything that was going on – then he wouldn't have attempted it either. If he wasn't sure Opal was stupid or at least presumptuous enough to be baited, he wouldn't have attempted it. But it had worked.

Finally getting up from the burning crater, he turned to look at his family. Artemis knew that from this moment on, Artemis, Hiccup and Toothless had left the time loop. So… from now on they were fair game and could be killed again. He just hoped he wouldn't… that he could return to apologize to his family. Would his father remember him as a dragon? Could he… was it morally and ethically defendable to not tell his father of the extreme danger he had just survived? What his son was going through? Why was he always dealing with such heavy guilt? He was going to have to find some way to make up for all of this… _when_ he came home again. Not if. When. Artemis had decided; the third trial was going down, and the rest of the second trial should be a walkover.

"Artemis! Are you okay?" Hiccup was running towards the body of the dragon; it was completely still. _Did we fail?_ "Artemis!"

Suddenly Artemis lunged bringing down Hiccup. "It looks like I'm okay, doesn't it?"

Hiccup laughed and pushed Artemis off of him. "Yeah, yeah. Did it… work?" Hiccup then asked in a more serious demeanor.

"All three are still breathing, aren't injured and Opal thinks they are dead. Mission complete." Artemis replied with smirk as Toothless joined the group.

"So… I take it from that answer that we did it? What's next then?" Toothless took an optimistic attitude. He was extremely happy that he had remembered everything Artemis told him; not that it was hard with the amount of detail Artemis could provide as to what he should do and why, it was just a bit hard remembering how he should go about the different wires and buttons and devices… Toothless had found the wonders of modern technology quite fascinating. It was almost as good as exploring new territory. Artemis had explained to the both of them how the connecting wires were responsible for showing images from another place to Opal. So if he could tamper with them in this manner or in that manner… then Opal would be fooled. And they had done it! But what were they supposed to do now?

Artemis opened his mouth to answer then closed it again. He realized that he didn't exactly _know_ that the rest of the trial would be a walkover, as he didn't actually possess any information regarding the day that was in between their own return and showdown with Opal through his mother and this day. Twenty-four hours of nothing. Well… "For starters, I think we should bring my family to the hangar. Since we destroyed the camera out there, Opal will most likely figure out that we're hiding out here, so we can use that to our advantage: She will not come for us, as she needs us to time travel, otherwise, she would never have been brought here. It's the time paradox again… it's keeping us safe from Opal, for the time being. So, if we hide my family in the hangar, then they will be safe as long as we do not reveal ourselves to not be in the hangar."

Agreeing with Artemis deduction, Toothless picked up one of the twins, Hiccup another and Artemis took it upon himself to carry his father. They brought them to the hangar, which was now quite empty and placed them to sleep on the floor. Hopefully they wouldn't wake up completely broken on the wheel.

(End of time)

Simetra breathed a deep sigh of relief. Now that the idiots had finally completed the… for lack of a better word "test" that time had cooked up for them, they should be home-free. He wouldn't have to help them anymore… unless of course they were willing to receive another punishment as was perfectly acceptable by the rules. For a moment, Simetra actually felt hope.

It had been a literal eternity since he'd felt hope. This kind of hope was something you felt when a screw-up you had made earlier had a chance of being redeemed. But Simetra knew it was too early to feel like this; he quickly bottled up those memories. But it was like a fire burning inside him; he could not keep it contained for long and it was already affecting him. He was beginning to return to utilizing some of the more useful aspects of his time control – splitting up, checking everything from everywhere and then combining the knowledge to form a perfect picture of what was about to happen… Simetra gasped.

How could he have not seen this development? If the appearance of his experiments in the past was considered a rewriting of time – which had then set off this loop – then the dissolving of said loop had to count as another rewriting! Simetra had forgotten this due to the fact that it hadn't happened to him because he was at the end of time… but it applied to the group he was currently watching. _How did I allow this to happen?_ That was the last thought Simetra had time to think before time itself fractured…

(Fowl Manor)

Artemis, Toothless and Hiccup had been walking back to the Manor. They had decided that it would probably be a good idea to inform the remaining inhabitants of the house – except for Opal and Angeline – of what was actually going on. That would recreate the future as it was… or at least they thought so.

Walking in a perfectly normal manner, routinely, with absolutely no signs of anything wrong happening at one point in time and then suddenly having one's vision clouded, split and exploded inwards was quite a surprise for everyone involved. It was impossible to focus on anything as images of pure mindfuckery assaulted them.

Scattered fragments…

Falling through the darkness…

Like a broken puzzle…

Being forced to be put together the wrong way…

Multiple lights flashing past…

Artemis materialized again in a familiar and yet not too familiar place at the same time. As did Hiccup. And Toothless. But neither of them were at the same point in time or the same place. They were separated.

There was a reason I was writing 'hopefully' or 'with any luck' at the end of every chapter (almost every chapter). And I think you guys know the reason why now. It will NOT be four days before a new chapter comes up if I can help it… and I can. The internet _will_ work and even if it doesn't I can use my USB-drive and my school's network to bring up the chapter. Determination! YEAH!

I'm learning how to drive tomorrow and I am really excited! Be careful everyone, a madman has gotten behind the wheel! Well, apparently we need theory lessons first… so no driving for another month... but it's still exciting! I'll still be trying to get the chapter out in two days… hopefully.


	26. Fracture

Urgh… determination? *Facepalms*. I say I won't be four days… and of course it takes four days :-(. Murphy's law in all its beauty… all its "charm"… "If you plan for all possibilities, a new possibility you have not considered will appear…" It's just sad when I'm succumbing to these things… but my driving lessons are taking everything from me!

If you're wondering why I'm not postponing the deadline, seeing as I haven't kept it for a lot of the more recent chapters, it's because I just _know_ myself: If I change the deadline from two days to three days, then I'll have the same problem only with three/four/five days instead of the current two/three/four days. So… perhaps I should just stop making promises I can't keep. On a lighter note, today's random statistic is one I found online: It states that 99.7 % of statistics are random and that these come from some sort of idea that the person doing the statistic has. 0.3 % are predetermined statistics such as dying (100%), being born (100 %) and stuff like that. Now that is random O_O! Chapter might be a bit dark… but nothing you all haven't seen before, right? And just before starting this chapter, another review in the bag! And six faves! Thank you both! More exclamation marks! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 26: Fracture.

Artemis was trying to gather his scrambled mind but was having a hard time doing so. He was standing in the driveway of Fowl Manor… but everything was wrong. The sky was grey, dark and menacing as if a murder had just occurred, the fields and gardens were neglected and dead and the Manor itself had multiple cracks in the walls and in some places had collapsed completely. Artemis was terrified. What happened here? And for that matter: What had just happened to him?

One second, they were walking through the twilight to the Manor again… and then suddenly everything had assaulted them from all sides. Artemis remembered seeing scattered memories of his life flashing past him like lights in the darkness; he remembered… actually, what did he remember? It was like his entire memory bank had been replaced, but he could remember having it replaced. Horrible imagery soon followed. His new memory told him what he was supposed to feel, but he was fighting it. Realizing he was still not human – that the punishment was still in effect, something from his half-erased memories – helped him overcome the initial shockwave of the new memories, but the first and last parts of those memories… the ones that actually held meaning to _him_ was harder to digest.

He now knew why the sky was darkened and the Manor was destroyed. He now knew what to expect inside of the darkened building. And it did not sit well with Artemis.

(The village of Berk?)

Hiccup was standing in a familiar location. Or rather… he was on his knees… a single tear of happiness affected by gravity falling to the ground. He quickly wiped it away though… he had to know if this was really happening. After pinching himself in the arm, he could no longer contain it. He was home! He was standing at the top of the village looking over the village; it was where he'd met Artemis the first time. But then he noticed the small differences… something was wrong.

It wasn't a lot. It was just a feeling of emptiness; all of his most recent memories felt distorted and unreal, while reality itself seemed empty. It wasn't a numb feeling though. He could still feel… it was definitely weird though… Hiccup then noticed he was still in Artemis' body. Was that the cause of this distant feeling? Hiccup couldn't think it was the reason, as he hadn't felt like this before… but what could it be then?

Another thing, but far more noticeable, was the lack of villagers… the lack of noise… where was everyone?

(The Nest?)

Toothless was hungry. He hadn't eaten, _at all_, in almost twelve hours! Yeah, Artemis, Hiccup and Toothless had used some spare time of the loop to plunder the kitchen, but that was a long time ago! Of course, other things were more important right now. For one… really weird stuff was happening to his mind. Something tried to replace everything he knew with something else, but was doing a poor job of it.

Oh, yeah and the massive dragon who should have died in a huge explosion was still alive – somehow.

Listening to part of the propaganda-like charade that his "alternate" memory was telling him, he realized they had never killed Mordana in this place/time. And that was when he realized he was still in Hiccup's body. While this wouldn't be so bad on its own – Toothless actually thought it could make the battle interesting against the mountain sized dragon, seeing as she had her own weaknesses in the form of age (slowpoke!) and anger (stupid!). However coupled with the fact that _another_ Hiccup was gaping at him like he'd stepped out of the thin air, was making this situation to be really bad. In a fast movement, Toothless grappled his friend's wrist and pulled him away from the massive teeth that tried to close down upon them. The Nest wasn't built for humans to easily traverse, but Toothless managed to quickly lead them behind a central pillar to hide from the self-imposed Queen of the dragons.

Toothless reviewed the alternate memory and suddenly realized why they were here. Hiccup had just discovered the Nest for the first time…again. But this time, there was no Astrid. There was no village… Hiccup was the last survivor of Berk. Toothless was Hiccup's only salvation in this time… But from Hiccup's point of view it must have been quite sudden for Toothless to vanish and then appear again as a clone of him. How was Toothless supposed to explain this…?

(Destroyed Fowl Manor)

Artemis was dismayed. He was beginning to accept what had happened, but it was still hard to deal with. Somehow time itself had exploded – again; it really was as fragile as stated by Simetra – and this time it had pieced itself together in a wrong way! The only way Artemis knew this was because he was no longer 16 years old… he was closer to 30 million years old mentally, only he was trapped in what should have been a 16-yearold's body, but then again he was still a dragon… confusing. But if it had not been confusing he could probably not have stayed focused on the information his new way of thinking gave him; he would have succumbed to the massive emotional overload. He had earlier wished to know how his analytical other self saw things… but he had not thought of this as an actual possibility. Now he had fused with his continued timeline… and had access to all his memories.

He held memories of… Holly's death. _I admitted I… love Holly?_ That was a bit going overboard – they were two different species, for God's sake! But… he couldn't deny the pain that memory in particular was giving him. Thankfully this memory was being swallowed by the absurd – underline _absurd_ – picture that his analytical self held of the world. It was all… numbers, truth, information. Merely processing everything; allowing nothing of any sort of actual _living_ to happen.

He also possessed memories of escaping the time hole and finding his way into this world again… the punishment had ended which had given him back his own body, somehow; he was going to have to make a more focused review of his new memory later… and then he had proceeded to watch as the world burned. Well, simply put, his analytical self was now unable to comprehend feelings; because Hiccup had never come for him in this time, he had never had a chance to try. So when World War Three had broken out; Artemis had secluded himself in his Manor and decided to never leave again. Time passing by was now as pointless as drinking a single drop of water because one was thirsty.

The dragon Artemis knew that his analytical double was somewhere inside the Manor as that was the last memory he had… and Artemis couldn't help but think how weird it was: having two memories at once. Rain was beginning to trickle down slowly building up… a storm was thundered in the distance and it was nearing. Moving over the destroyed front door Artemis entered the lobby.

It looked like it was taken out from Hiccup's memories of the inside of the time hole – but without the freaky color scheme. Pieces, bigger ones and smaller ones, of balconies lay all over the once-beautiful floor forming piles of rubble of different sizes, the walls had huge cracks and gashes in them and the darkness was of course all-consuming – no electricity… or was there? Artemis' eyesight gave him the ability to penetrate the darkness; there was a reason it was called a _Night_ Fury… and combined with his current "schizophrenia"-like condition gave him the ability to _instantaneously_ analyze everything he saw – courtesy of the "numbers, truth, information"-thing. It was quite impressive what a few (or many) extra years of experience could do…

And he saw the red light in the darkness, shining alluringly to him like an amateur hunter trying to lure in a predator; that camera was obviously fake. It was supposed to attract him, lead him into a trap… so of course Artemis moved towards the light in the most non-caring manner possible. He was ready for pretty much anything… though he had no need to be. He already knew the trap; he had _himself_ and yet not himself set it up. Confusing…

The cage came from the ceiling as expected, followed by eight more on all sides of the first cage. The extras had been set up in case the target had enough talent to escape the first – but they only accounted for human speed. The pattern created by the falling cages reminded Artemis of the side of a Rubik's Cube. And following that random association, Artemis dashed to the edge of the falling cages. Smashing into the floor with a bone crumbling force, Artemis only just managed to avoid getting his tail cut off… he would have to remind himself he still had a tail seeing as even the analytical part of him, that now dominate half of him, had trouble reacting in ways that it had already gotten rehabilitated from. It seemed it had been one and a half years since his analytical counterpart had returned to his own body… and the 16-year old – or 30000000-year old depending on how you count time – had already forgotten how to control a tail. How degrading… Artemis reminded himself never to forget this experience… if he came out alive… It would remind him never to assume things at a glance again.

Returning to an earlier thought: If just one and a half years had passed… how could the Third World War have broken out? This was supposed to be a time in which he was 11… but of course because of the time hole he was actually 16 – or getting technical 19. Did that mean that he was personally involved in starting the war? Revelations came to him more rapidly now… he remembered…

"Who… are you…?" interrupted a rasping voice over the voice-com.

Artemis sighed; he would get back to that thought later. For now he merely looked into the real camera, hidden behind a panel and only a tiny hole giving it away, before saying: "You."

"Time fracture…?" the voice asked.

"Yes. Truce?" Artemis asked back.

"Meeting… Two…" The voice replied. While this short exchange of words might seem a bit cold and uninterested to others, Artemis' minds were working on overtime. One part of him thought of the psychology behind such an impressive mental fortress that the other had built, as he was seemingly unshakable… while pondering whether or not it might be possible to actually spawn a reaction in the other. The other part analyzed the sentences at base value and evaluated the final value of truth in the words. And the conclusion was that this was a worthy person; a true person. Of course Artemis didn't really give credit to that part of his mind (Truth value? Really?), but he nonetheless found that he agreed on the worthy part. In just ten words, they had exchanged the amount of information he might have had to use 100+ words to describe to Toothless or Hiccup.

The time fracture was of course the reference that the analytical part of Artemis' mind had dubbed the explosion of time. And the two last words meant he had two minutes to get to the meeting room. The traps had all been disabled and using only one minute, fifty-seven seconds, 3 hundredths of a second, 9 thousandths of… Artemis strangled that part of him and focused on the figure standing inside the dark, and besides the figure otherwise empty, meeting room.

It wasn't that he looked abnormal. He looked like a fairly standard Artemis-clone actually. Suit checked out as being the ripped variety that Hiccup in Artemis' body was still wearing (they had tried to change clothes during one of the loops; this had lead to an extremely embarrassing moment… changing clothes while in other peoples bodies was a bit… and even worse when they failed the take later on, Hiccup went back to having Artemis' ripped suit again, so the whole endeavor had been pointless. They decided to wait until the punishment was over before changing again; they had then continued with trying to escape the time loop). Why was he still wearing that? It… stunk… and had probably not been washed in one and a half years! Ignoring this Artemis continued scanning the other…

He wasn't any fatter or thinner than Artemis, his face looked just the same… but the one thing that made him stand out from the rest… was the eyes. One was blue, one was hazel… just like the standard… but both could just as well have been as black as the night. No light escaped those eyes. Simetra prided himself in having seen hell, but had apparently gotten so indifferent to hell that he had found his feelings again. This guy was _still_ in hell… Artemis shuddered as much as it was possible; though he had half of the same mindset currently.

Another thought made its displeasure apparent: Artemis was _really_ starting to get bugged by the sheer amount of different Artemis' that were in play in this complex time travelling business. How could he _ever_ have thought the concept interesting?

The other Artemis looked at the dragon in front of him and after a while… he rasped: "Goal…?" The word was processed extremely slowly; as if needing the _exact_ amount of intonation, thought and execution to achieve absolute value of truth… Artemis silenced his own insight into his counterpart when it began ranting on the truth value. It was too ridiculous to consider some words having more truth than others. Artemis considered the notion just as ridiculous as number poetry…

Then Artemis thought about the question itself. What was he actually trying to accomplish? After two seconds, he replied: "I've come here to make you feel something again… to help you get over the darkness that has befallen you." Artemis had decided it would be better to reply using his "normal" set of memories; not completely butcher every grammatical rule ever created just to _infuse_ truth into the words that were left unscathed.

A lightning strike sounded in the distance as the storm drew closer. The windows that were in the hallway had flashed just a single second before the foreboding booming sound had spread all over the area. Looking with indifferent eyes at the dragon, the analytical Artemis replied: "Feelings… untrue… truce… if… acceptance…?"

Artemis knew the interpretation was supposed to be 'Feelings are untrue. You'll get your truce if you accept me for who I am.' But he still frowned at the fact that his initial attempt at getting through to the other, had been shot down so cruelly. Perhaps if he tried a more direct approach: "Listen to me. Feelings might _seem_ untrue at a glance… but that's only because you don't understand them!"

"I… understand… everything… truth… power… truce… or…?" Not even once did he intone a word angrily. But he was looking at Artemis more seriously, he was using more words and the interpretation also gave some things away; 'I understand everything! Truth is power, don't question it. Do you want this truce or not?' The words were lined with poisonous intent, but Artemis knew he had his opponent where he wanted him. This was the kind of reaction he'd expected. The words he'd expected the other to use… he'd turn them around on him!

So he said: "Truth is power? Then you don't know the truth: Feelings are the most powerful truth you will find _because_ they hide their true intention. Imagine if you could uncover the true intention of feelings; that would be more powerful than just truth on its own, wouldn't it? In fact, you should know that adding two elements together is stronger… and this particular combination has the potential for a synergy effect!"

The analytical Artemis flared up. He didn't even consider the correct intonation as he said: "Words are powerful." No more slowly processing every word. "Truth even more so. Feelings… are worthless… unless… what you say is true?" For the first time in thirty million years… the analytical Artemis faltered. His facial expression twitched as if a huge inner revolution was going on. He looked like he was in pain; and suddenly he bent over backwards with a bloodcurdling scream as his perfectly formed picture of how the world was shattered. He fell to the ground, landing on his back, unconscious.

Artemis had _told_ him with _words_ that the analytical Artemis interpreted as _true,_ that feelings had a hidden power stronger than truth itself. The seed of doubt that had been planted had apparently been enough to break his counterpart like a twig… Mental fortress, yeah, right! More like a complete coverage of three sides and then having unlocked door in the back wall that said: 'Please attack me here!' Tacking the situation off mentally as "dealt with" Artemis moved out of the room and wandered back to the lobby…

The memory he had been searching for was waiting for him. It was the skeleton… of an elf. Only the elf's uniform remained… a Neutrino 1000 was strapped to the uniform with a belt buckle… Artemis tried to keep thinking of the skeleton as "an elf"; he had to distance himself from his discovery. Focusing on something else… the dried pool of blood from Butler's leg was still a bit away from the destroyed front door…

But he had to look closer. It was… an unrecognizable face. Luckily.

Calming down, Artemis curled up around himself on top of the body and waited… hoarding the skeleton seemed like the right thing to do… mourning a lost future… In actuality it was Artemis' way of disconnecting; simply letting his instincts take him over and with nothing else to do he was for once happy with having a mindset that could watch time pass by as easily and lazily as a man who had lost all will to live… it helped distance himself from the current state of affairs… and the question: What was going to happen now?

(Berk?)

Hiccup walked down through his village. All of the houses were empty, no one seemed to be around, but he'd seen smoke coming from the harbor so he moved towards the source. Walking towards the smoke though felt strangely cold… and it got colder as he got closer and closer. Hiccup sank, as he connected the feeling with walking towards one's death. Hiccup didn't know what was going on… it was too real to be a dream… but still it didn't feel real enough to _not_ be one of Simetras tricks. Approaching the docks with caution, Hiccup finally saw what was going on.

It was a burning long-ship. That was being pushed towards the open sea. With the entire village in complete silence as they all watched the boat slowly move towards a different world – towards Valhalla. Hiccup realized… he was watching a funeral… his own? A very cold hand gripped his stomach and twisted it around. He didn't really want to think about it, but seeing the ship, he guessed he was in a future where he'd died. Or… was he dead?

Now that he was looking at the beautifully decorated ship he realized that there was not a single piece of gold, silver, wood or any other material that could be considered "grave goods". It was an empty ship. There was only an open chest in which lay a piece of black clothing and a rope. The flames had yet to reach the chest, which Hiccup supposed was to substitute a coffin. He noticed his father standing looking out towards the sea and the burning ship with the same eyes he'd had when Hiccup's mother had passed away in the same way. You could easily get lost in those eyes if you weren't careful. They were the eyes of someone who had lost everything – and had only just begun realizing it.

Amazingly, Astrid was crying. She was standing in one of the furthest corners of the docks… turned towards the rock wall… but she was trembling and Hiccup couldn't imagine it was because she was laughing. She was trying to keep it to herself, Hiccup could see, but she _was_ being comforted by Ruffnut. Apparently rivalries had bled up when they'd found out about the dragons… the dragons! There were no dragons around… Where were they? Had they… gone? Were they…?

Hiccup was about to shout out to everyone in the plaza, when he suddenly remembered he looked like Artemis. How would everyone react to that fact? Before he had a chance to regret coming to the harbor, his father turned around and could now, over all of the other heads, see Hiccup. A moment of absolute silence passed over the Vikings; they all expected some kind of speech, but Stoick was only looking directly into the green eyes… "Hiccup…?"

Stoick blinked a few times. Why had he spouted that nonsense… it was clearly… Artemis…? Stoick looked into the eyes again… and there was no longer any doubt in his mind. Moving like a man with a final purpose in life, Stoick stepped down from his raised podium. He hastened through the Viking crowd, parting the confused crowd easily. Stoick reached the back row rather quickly and stood now face to face with Hiccup. The silence was deafening.

"Hiccup… My son!" Stoick threw his arms around the thin boy, who was so confused and yet so profoundly happy to have been recognized, that he couldn't speak a word.

The Vikings obviously thought their leader had lost it – it was clearly Artemis – but even they had to admit that the pale teen in front of them had to be some sort of sign. They had found nothing in the seven days that Stoick had used to prepare the greatest funeral ship ever; they'd gone to the Nest again to try and find the remains of Hiccup, Artemis and the Night Fury, but they were still nowhere to be found. And yet, here was one of them, alive and kicking. Perhaps that was why Artemis was so well received; it would have to mean Hiccup was also alive! The Vikings all came to this conclusion, except…

When Astrid heard the name be shouted to the sky, she thought she'd heard the most gut wrenchingly cruel joke she could possibly think of anyone pulling at the moment. Someone yelling… that name… with so much hope, passion and familiarity could only be wishing for a quick death by the means of her trusty axe. But when Astrid swung around with red, teary-gone-angry eyes… she dropped the axe from her hand. It fell to the ground with a metallic clatter, breaking the silence very loudly. Astrid was fighting between an urge to fall to her knees and cry for her lost sanity as she was seeing a ghost or running towards Artemis and touching him to see if he was real. Eventually her courage won through and though she was scared to death of running towards… him… and finding out if he was merely a vision, Astrid didn't care. He _had_ to be real. If he was real… then he would know where Hiccup was!

And thus Astrid assaulted Hiccup. Stoick felt his son be ripped from his grip, and was about to protest when he saw it was Astrid making the move. Stoick made no motion towards getting his son back in his arms… he realized it might have been an excessive display of emotions… and he could still be grasping straws…

"Ow!" Hiccup turned and saw it was Astrid who had crashed into him, and was about to continue when Astrid grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up. After shaking him once, she brought him extremely close to her face – anger very much apparent in her features – and screamed: "Where is he? Tell me where he is now!"

Hiccup tried again to speak, but being shaken, strangled and intimidated into _not_ speaking meant he did exactly that. Astrid had apparently yet to notice something different about "Artemis"… Hiccup didn't blame her; this was the reaction he'd expected from everyone and it was still baffling to him that his father had recognized him. Hiccup understood right then how much his father loved him… "I…" he gargled.

Astrid stopped shaking him and looked at him again. He was going to answer her. Right. NOW! She fixed her glance at his… green eyes? Green eyes… …! She instantly let go as if her touching him meant he would combust into flames. "Hiccup…?"

Hiccup couldn't help but feel the déjà vu as Astrid said the same thing as his father did in the same tone. He finally felt ready to reply… "Yeah… It's me, Astrid, Dad, all of you," Hiccup said turning to the stunned audience. Gobber was for once speechless; he was usually the one who caught on and made some unexpected comment when something weird was happening, like when trolls stole the left socks of some people or the "boneknapper" was setting his house on fire… whatever that was about. The team of dragon trainers was also quite silent, until finally Snotlout broke the awkward silence: "Whatever, I can still beat you, cousin! Ha!"

The Vikings had to admit that that was true and a small chuckle spread like a wildfire instantly thawing the tension. The Vikings had all but forgotten the burial ship and after getting told by Stoick, they were now all moving towards the Mead Hall to drink this thing into the ground. There was a _definite_ need for alcohol, tension broken or not, as this wasn't something that happened every day. Actually some of the elders of the village were trying to convince Stoick, but each and every one of their pleas to "kill the demonic spawn that acts as one of our own" was turned down. Begrudgingly they also left towards the Hall.

Stoick was now walking on one side of Hiccup, Astrid on another as Hiccup explained what had happened to him. The three of them were making their way to the house of the Village Chief. On multiple occasions there were gasps; especially around some of the "future" elements. Stoick silently promised himself that should Artemis ever show his face again around Berk, he wouldn't get away without at least a blue mark considering the amount of lies he'd spewed. They'd thought he was a hero incarnated for Thor's sake! Even more than that… a chosen one who had met the Gods! THE GODS! Well, at least he hadn't lied about the flying ships… Hiccup had described that one in amazing detail and much to Stoick's dismay he found himself intrigued. It sounded like a good way of controlling large amounts of land… refocusing on the story, Hiccup continued.

Astrid was more laid back in her thought process, but simpler didn't mean it was easy. She was in turmoil. What would she do if Hiccup vanished again? Could she… like… love… trying to identify the correct word was even hard! Could she… love Hiccup in Artemis' body. Even if he was to stay like this? Would she be able to live with him if he could vanish at any moment? Astrid was smiling and laughing and gasping and being horrified on the outside, but on the inside she really didn't feel like being so expressive. She wanted nothing more than to curl up and succumb to her fear of Hiccup vanishing… again.

Hiccup was nearing the end of the story as they got closer to the house. He'd left out some parts (yeah, guess which… with Astrid listening, he couldn't say anything about… his crush). This was the next-best thing: to be _actually_ home again. The final confirmation would be to see his room… his workbench… his bed… to be home. It was within reach. His two companions had gone silent upon him ending the story.

Stoick couldn't think of anything to ask. What Hiccup had gone through… Stoick only knew that he himself would have failed the trials instantly. But Hiccup… would prevail. He was sure. Hiccup was now truly a Haddock; they were strong when it really mattered. Well, Stoick was strong at all times… but he was sure that Hiccup got the notion he was trying to bring across… mentally… maybe not… but Stoick didn't want to openly encourage Hiccup in completing the trials… because that would be an acknowledgement of the existence of such things… and Stoick was frightened that if he acknowledged their presence in his son's life… he'd be taken away immediately.

Astrid thought about all Hiccup had told them. There were things he'd left out she could feel that, but… Astrid found that she couldn't begin to demand of him everything that she wanted to. What if she scared him away? That would hurt her more than staying silent… so she stayed silent…

Then Hiccup remembered, as they stood outside the door… "What happened to… the dragons?"

"They… well, we convinced them to stay away from the island for today as… your death…" Stoick choked on that word before continuing, "could be interpreted as a… violent reaction from the dragons. And some elders are… still looking for revenge." _I would be lying if I said that didn't include me as well… but I can't tell him that, can I?_ Stoick still had a bit of… prejudice left for the black dragon (it wasn't a demon or a devil, at least).

Hiccup nodded in response. Hiccup knew what his father was saying, even the things left unspoken, and he would have been very surprised if the village had somehow found out all its differences with a species they had been at war with for seventy years. But it still pained him… the lack of trust… perhaps he could make all the difference? Perhaps the nightmare was over and he would have to learn to live with the fact that he now looked like someone else? If that was all it took… then Hiccup would accept his fate. But then he remembered… Artemis and Toothless; though his memory was distorted as if he wasn't supposed to be here in this world anymore he still remembered them… and both of his friends were counting on him!

"Listen, Dad, Astrid. I'm going to have to leave at some point… I'll have to deal with this… because the others are waiting for me… trusting me. But I promise… I will come back alive!" Feeling that everything that should be said had been said, Hiccup turned and reached for the doorknob… and there he paused. He suddenly knew what he should do…

(The Nest)

Toothless had been in better situations than the one he was currently in.

A very confused Hiccup was standing next to him, and had it not been for the fact that a screaming dragon was demanding their blood and bones while spewing huge amounts of fire at the pillar they were standing behind, Hiccup would have probably fainted. Seeing your counterpart appear instead of your dragon did that to a person. One moment he'd been sitting on Toothless, ready to take revenge or die trying on the beast that had killed everyone else in Berk, except him three years prior. Hiccup had then rebuilt some of the stuff… he'd toughened up and built automated weapons if the dragons should ever return.

But the one dragon that actually came back… was friendly. It needed his help in killing something; that much Hiccup understood. Through an arduous process the two had become friends… but now at the end of the long road… he'd vanished and left him?

"Listen to me, Hiccup! We need to get to the exit. Do you understand?" Toothless tried to flail his hands around to infuse his statement with some power, but being inexperienced in the finer points of body language, only managed to make Hiccup more confused.

"Who… are you?" Hiccup finally managed.

"I'm… Toothless." Hiccup still looked confused. He hadn't actually named the dragon that had allowed him to fly with him. "I'm the dragon?" Hiccup's eyes widened in understanding. This was too weird…

"And well… I'm currently in… your body. The story is too long to recount for now, please Hiccup, just trust me!" Toothless pleaded. He could hear the Queen getting agitated; she would soon begin to pass the point where she actually gave a damn about the Nest. She would most likely simply destroy the pillar and eat them in the ensuing chaos of the collapsing cave, not caring about anything but the source of her anger. Wait… wasn't that a plan…?

Meanwhile, Hiccup decided to snap out of his twitching reactions to knowing that his dragon had somehow replicated his body and inhabited it for now. He felt like he was moving through a dream… "Ok… Toothless… what should we do?" Hiccup had no one else to trust… and a "tough" Hiccup didn't mean a stupid Hiccup. He knew he could trust the other… he just knew.

"I think I have a plan, Hiccup. On my signal, you run to the exit. It's just up there, see," Toothless pointed to a rectangular gash in the side of the wall. Occasionally a dragon would enter the cave with food in claw and realize the situation before either backing out again or simply find a spot on the wall and hope the storm of furiousness known as Mordana would calm down. The smartest dragons were the ones who abandoned ship, Toothless thought. The problem now was that the cave had deep holes and over these holes thin beams of stone that all formed a sort of network of bridges were the only way forward. The holes glowed a weak orange as the magma that was deep within the mountain could only be recognized from said light that was cast from the deepest of the pits – you would die from hitting the sides of the pit before hitting the magma if that was any consolation; that was how deep the magma lay.

This essentially meant that to get to the exit you would need to be incredibly fast as when they were going to be moving on the bridges, they would be vulnerable to both the bridge breaking under them and the streams of fire that Mordana would undoubtedly send after them. Therefore Toothless concluded that he would have to stay behind and lure the Queen into knocking down the supporting pillar, before he would somehow have to get out of the cave before it collapsed on them. It was reckless… and he couldn't help but associate the plan with one Artemis could have made up. Toothless had gotten a very clear view of the massive explosion that had hit the Cessna… as it glided low over the garden… and Artemis was probably still praising his luck that both missiles had hit the other side of the plane first. _Guh, getting sidetracked…_

Toothless then showed Hiccup three fingers, not waiting for a reply and hoping that Hiccup would understand. When he was down to one finger, Hiccup got a serious expression on his face and when Toothless jumped out from behind the pillar and began to taunt the Queen, Hiccup began running. Balancing over the thin bridge, Hiccup didn't even look back, as he was too busy to wonder whether or not this was in actuality a dream. Or some sort of trick induced by a God.

Toothless tried to bring his vocal chords to make the correct sounds and though it was only a very crude interpretation of the draconic language, he managed to say something understandable; something along the lines of "Your mother must have dropped your egg for you to be this weak!" A fairly standard insult and though Toothless wasn't usually the type to trash talk, he knew that the combination of insulting the abilities of both ones parent and oneself was quite infuriating. And he was not disappointed…

With a shriek of white-hot anger, Mordana charged forward. She did not care what happened to the Nest… this little speck of dust was telling her off in one of the rudest ways possible, and the speck was even doing it in her language – although it could also just have been coincidental roaring; the speck sucked at Dragonese if that was its intention. She did not care either way, intentional or not, and with a huge crash Mordana smashed the pillar in half. But Toothless was already halfway over the first bridge… with another roar, Mordana followed soon after.

Toothless jumped, slid, flipped and ran across the first three bridges in an attempt to avoid the massive dragon that was chomping the air just behind him. That was when he felt the first effects of the impending collapse… the cave shook slightly and Toothless ran just a bit too slow, a bit wobbly… he could hear the fire coming behind him…

With a roar that would indisputably wake the dead and kill them again immediately, Mordana got ready to fire her stream towards the running speck. It had been lucky to pass under (or over) her attempts at eating it but now the fun was _over_! Just as she was about to release though, a pain became apparent and it was growing… Another massive rock smashed into her back and the fire that only now left her mouth passed harmlessly above Toothless. With a spine-tingling roar she vanished into the deeps taking the bridge, which Toothless had only just crossed, with her.

But Toothless was still worried. With good reason. Because the stream of fire had melted part of the rocks and splinters were being sent everywhere; by some miracle he managed to avoid the splinters, but as he neared the exit, which he could see Hiccup was currently climbing for, he could also see some of the molten pieces of rock dripping from the ceiling…

Toothless felt like a messenger of death as he ran faster than he would have thought possible. _Hiccup!_ Toothless had seen the boy get hit in the back by a loose stone, but he could not see how badly he was hurt. Almost hovering over the last bridge, Toothless began a perilous five meters climb, from the end of the last bridge to the gash that made up the exit. If it didn't exactly sound perilous to climb a mere five meters, then you'd probably forgotten all about the collapsing cave and the random drops of molten rock that was flying left and right.

But Toothless was agile. And he had a mission. And that mission could be summed up in one word… Hiccup! So through a combination of agility and determination, Toothless managed to make it to the top where Hiccup lay. He _had_ gotten hurt from a drop that had burned one of his fingers – it hurt like there was no tomorrow… – but he'd rubbed it off before it could burn through his finger. Upon reaching the top however, a sight, more agonizing than the pain coursing through his finger, met him. Hiccup was lying face down on the rocky ground… with a big hole in his back that went all the way through his body.

Toothless slid over to his downed friend and turned him around. "HICCUP!" Toothless was afraid of how scared he sounded, but right now… his friend was in seriously bad trouble. Toothless already knew what was happening… but he wouldn't accept it.

Hiccup's eyes had gotten a strange bleak glint to them as he looked at his friend's face. Perhaps it was the fearful expression, perhaps it was the ridiculousness of the situation – one Hiccup on the verge of tears over another Hiccup's body – but Hiccup managed a smile. With his dying breath, he said: "I… I'm… sorry buddy… I… couldn't…" Hiccup began spewing blood, but still managed to hold his smile with his eyes.

Toothless was crying now. He'd never tried that before, but it felt as natural to him as breathing in that moment. "Don't Hiccup. Stay!"

Hiccup took a pained breath and spoke but one more word: "Leave…" And then his head sagged.

Toothless was sitting with a… He let go of… _Hiccup…?_ _Hic…cup?_ The cave then shook at its very base, but Toothless did not care. Hiccup was gone. What would be the point of continuing? Toothless stared at his blood-soaked hands… he saw Hiccup's smiling face for his inner eye… could still hear his death rattle… _leave…_

Giving himself a slap on the face to bring himself back to reality, Toothless picked up Hiccup's body and then he ran. He ran like the devil himself was at his heels, he ran like no man or dragon, whichever was classifying him currently, had ever run before. Had he run any slower than what he just did… Toothless would also have been crushed. But as it was Toothless managed to make it out of the cave just in time to turn around and see the end of the Nest. With a muffled rumbling the cave collapsed.

And suddenly all was very quiet… Toothless brought his friend's body slowly down onto the ground. Hiccup's cold eyes stared up into the full moon that was currently lighting the small platform that protruded from the mountain as to invite the dragons to fly into their Nest, guide them. Now the platform was merely a platform. The waves crashed into the volcanic mountain far below the platform. The wind gently caressed the open wound that was Toothless' heart.

Kneeling beside his friend, Toothless' heart began to bleed again as tears began forming. "Why…?" Toothless realized it should have been him. If he'd told Hiccup the plan before suddenly executing it… then Hiccup could have been the one distracting… and Toothless would be the one lying dead on the ground. At least that was better than Hiccup dying…

Unbeknownst to Toothless though was the fact that his tears had broken down the last barrier that Simetra had placed between the two of them… and suddenly the bond reactivated. As Toothless suddenly _created_ this bond again, that could not have existed in the time that Toothless was currently in, time realized it was put together wrongly. And it immediately tried to right itself. The world around Toothless was consequentially swallowed in a massive whirlpool of colors and noise.

(Destroyed Fowl Manor)

As Artemis had also _crafted_ a new future for his own self... and as a reaction to time having completed the puzzle in a clearly wrong way, time repaired itself by swallowing Artemis before he could do any more "damage".

In this very moment, the analytical counterpart of Artemis was slowly beginning to come to himself… and when he got up he had only one thought in his mind: _Feelings… are… absolute… power… but… what… are… feelings…?_

_I… must find the answer!_

(Berk)

Hiccup had also planted a seed of _knowledge_ that he was okay in the minds of all the Vikings; and this made time react in much the same way it had done with the other two. After Hiccup returned with the item of interest hoisted on his back and with a huge grin plastered on his face – much to Stoick's and Astrid's confusion – Hiccup finally entered his home. He figured he had time to sit down and think about what he should do… how he should return… but as he grabbed the doorknob, Hiccup suddenly vanished.

Astrid freaked out and ran to her house… her fear had just been realized… she was going to sit in her bed with her legs curled up for the rest of the day! Why had she not told Hiccup that she loved him…? Why was she – the most courageous up-and-coming Viking – the most scared when it came to these feelings? She had had nearly an hour with him… and she hadn't said anything… Astrid could only hope that Hiccup's words were true, that he would survive… because if they weren't her heart would break and become stone.

Stoick merely breathed out in surprise. The required amount of weirdness for Stoick to get a drink had been reached. Trembling from what had just happened, but reassured that Hiccup would keep his promise, he moved into his house to gather his mugs. He was going to have to keep the ale nearby for a few days… and he would order a new door as the one he'd had, had just left with Hiccup…

And thus…

The scattered pieces…

Coming together…

Correctly…

Almost…

Toothless was the first to rematerialize, closely followed by Artemis and a door. The door immediately fell over with a creak revealing a shocked Hiccup behind it.

With equally shocked expressions they looked at each other, like they'd seen ghosts… but they hadn't. While Artemis and Hiccup could have been focusing their surprise at each other, it was Toothless who took the immediate attention. He was covered in blood smears; one in his face, his clothes had also lost the green color and turned red by countless stains and his hands were soaked as well. One of fingers were in a bad condition and the drying tears that painted his face and red eyes completed the image.

Toothless immediately assaulted Hiccup, hands slinging around him needing to know he was alive; and Hiccup realized he felt the other as clearly as he'd done between dragon and rider. The bond was back and though he did not know exactly why Toothless was bloodied and beaten, he understood that Toothless had gone through some sort of ordeal… much like he had (only his trial had been mental… he hadn't even said a true goodbye)… and he guessed Artemis had had some sort of trial as well. Trials within trials… it reeked of Simetra. That guy… had taken things too far! But Hiccup had no time to focus on someone whom he did not want to think about as he needed to ask about… the blood.

"Toothless…? What happened, buddy?" Hiccup asked concerned. No answer came. "We're back?" Hiccup then asked to Artemis, almost disbelievingly, while Toothless was still exerting his possessive nature over Hiccup making sure he was actually there.

"Seems… like it… or…" Artemis cautiously replied. He wasn't as sure… mostly because of the room they were standing in. _Oh, no…_ "… no, we're not!" Artemis had felt a bit relieved; his cold, logical memories had left him… but he would still have to process them when he got the time; he could still remember everything he'd seen but there was a time and a place for everything. But now he noticed…

Toothless quietly let go of Hiccup and then turned to look at the room they were standing in. It wasn't very big… windows lined one wall and a chair was placed in front of a box with a lot of buttons in front of it. It was the control booth! "But… aren't we back? Isn't this that place where that pixie fried us in the earlier loop-thing?"

"Exactly… but if you look at the screens you can see… where we are… or more importantly when we are…" Artemis pointed to the screens. _Not again…_

And following that depressing thought Artemis felt something that made him die a little inside. Artemis suddenly dared not move… he could feel a certain something lying underneath him… How many times could things go wrong before this trial was over? Was this also a rewriting of time? Should he expect to blow up in five seconds again? He could feel Ho-… the elf skeleton underneath him. Artemis didn't want to move and show them as to shock the others like Toothless' appearance was doing right now. Too much trauma in one sitting was devastating and Artemis wasn't sure his friends' flailing nerves could take that right now. Fortunately, it seemed they hadn't noticed yet…

Hiccup considered for a moment pursuing Toothless macabre appearance, he considered showing Artemis the item of interest he'd brought with him (Yes! It had worked!). But for now, Hiccup looked at the screens that showed every monitored hallway and room at the current moment. And he immediately recognized the situation he'd already experienced before… four times if you counted this one!

He saw Opal move down slowly one corridor, while their group consisting of Artemis, future Artemis, future Holly, Hiccup and Toothless were all moving down another corridor. He knew that suddenly future Artemis would make a hand sign and the whole group would move into the library on his command. Because Opal wouldn't check her notebook to see if the group had deviated from their path, she would walk right past the door, fuming with anger. The group would then hurry silently to the time portal in the meeting room… Hiccup knew what was going to happen because this was what had already happened! The group was still on their way to the library… but time was ticking fast. They had to do something!

Artemis thought along the same lines. The remembrance of the situation might be shocking… but he was far more worried about their only ticket to another time vanishing with said group. Were they going to have to wait and hide for _eight years_ before finally being able to complete the past by time travelling there? Or had Artemis missed something… were they going to be trapped in another time loop if they failed? How much was actually left of this trial?

This chapter started off short, 6500 words… and suddenly it became nearly 9000 words. Isn't there a joke with "over 9000!" or something? I can't remember where I've heard it though… Anyway, next chapter is going up in two days (hopefully, hopefully, hopefully… please). Unless my first practical lesson in driving kills me for a day so I don't have as much time as I'd like to; if that happens it should be up Sunday. Hopefully the chapter is ready by Saturday though. Thanks for reading!


	27. Wiped

We just bought our new internet… enough said. I pulled an all-nighter to finish this… even more said. But don't worry, we have a day off today so I'll get my sleep. Actually… half the class have the day off, the rest gets to go to Berlin for a field trip (only those who have German as a subject). In completely unrelated news: I can drive! Not very well, but I can drive consistently in the first gear. When getting to the second… not so much, but it'll come with training. My legs hurt from driving too much this weekend! I've tried to boil down this rant to singular statements and it seems I've succeeded!

Finally today's random statistic (they don't get more random than last time) is a comparison. I read my first HP fanfic (just a random pick and not one of the more popular ones) and by the fifth chapter the guy lists that he has 5000 hits. So I conclude that HP is 5.4 times more popular than AF or HTTYD seeing as I've written 27 chapters and have 2500 hits… O_O. But if you compare it to this: HP has a total of 510000 stories written, AF and HTTYD put together has barely 6000 stories. That is, for every one AF/HTTYD story there is 85 HP stories. If you connect the dots you can see that the attention to _each_ story is much higher for AF/HTTYD than HP. You guys are more loyal! HA! … though huge numbers are nice as well… just a bit jealous anyway… meh… thanks for reading! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 27: Wiped.

Why did they have to put _all_ the blame on him? Not that he didn't deserve some of it… but it was quickly becoming old. Simetra was getting _really_ tired of being blamed; he had not seen the unraveling of time happening, because he hadn't been thinking. It was a simple mistake. He'd been afraid. But it seemed he was back… the fracture had been recalled somehow… at least he couldn't get in deeper than he already was.

His experiments was already hating him as much as possible. And… well… the other side as well. He knew that his best, and only, chance of winning the bet would be now. But he couldn't help them anymore than they'd already gotten. And this meant that they would have to figure out what to do on their own… he just hoped at least one of them had the right head on the right shoulders in the right moment at the right time. And that it would work right.

Since he'd started to use his power again he now commanded the battlefield again. And he knew what the three would have to do. But… could they actually pull it off? Simetra stared worried at the screen, unaware of the trouble brewing in one of the fractured future universes: The one with a certain analytical Fowl.

(Destroyed Fowl Manor – Driveway)

The analytical Artemis was standing in the rain, lightning flashing around him. It had always fascinated him; the energies involved in the process was huge… to harness that energy could prove to be the discovery of a millennia. But Artemis hadn't even bothered… why should he when all the "discovery" would bring was an increase of "life quality" to others. It would be pointless as he always knew the "truth". But all these things had changed in the past five minutes… or had it been an hour? Artemis didn't know how long he'd been standing in the rain… which was a new feeling for him. He'd always been in _total_ control. But now…

Artemis was reflecting on his meeting earlier. He'd always given himself the highest value of truth that could possibly be given. If he couldn't trust his own judgment then life would hold no meaning. And Artemis at least thought there was _something_ behind it all. Maybe it was all coincidence, maybe there was a God, maybe it was something unimaginable… but Artemis was sure that even the unimaginable could be described by numbers and systems, could be described through logic. Even if it had been a coincidence there would at least have been basis in some sort of test… and that test could be recreated to find the exact measurements involved. Now THAT was fascinating and Artemis had spent thirty million years (or very nearly that amount) pondering the questions of life seen from the point of view of the ultimate objectivity.

So why was it that his other self had begun spouting madness about feelings? If you considered the earlier criteria then his other self had to be speaking the truth; therefore feelings held a secret that not even _he_ had been able to break down and analyze. And that was even more interesting. Artemis hadn't even wondered about whether the dragon had lied since it had told him that it was him. After all, everything seemed to be revolving around time. This idea was of course ridiculous as it was in fact truth everything revolved around. But nonetheless the idea that the true center of the world could be feelings… he would have to find out if this was true. And then he would find out if you could indeed combine multiple centers of the world and create the supposed synergy effect.

Artemis knew that he could not live forever… but he would need forever to investigate these promising facts. And therefore his first project would have to be time; he would merely have to apply some of his more brilliant ideas to this world… no one would be able to recognize it in a few centuries…

From there he would take it to other futures, his own other futures. Artemis knew that his was not the only, nor the original, future… but he would make it so. For now… it was time to call a few old friends. Or rather… let them out.

Artemis smirked; moving his facial features for the first time in a crazy amount of time. But muscle memory was a force to be reckoned with and he thought he managed to get it about 96 % right even though it had been years upon years since he'd had a reason to smile. Artemis smirked _because_ power was within his grasp. And that was the absolute truth.

(Fowl Manor – control booth)

As all of these things were unknown to the group, they were instead being overwhelmed by their current predicament. Artemis quickly summed up what would happen if they did not get to the time portal before their own group: "At best, we'll be trapped in this place for eight years! In the worst case scenario, which I consider most likely, it could destroy time even more… imagine, if you will, that the loop was the first warning and the… uhh, fracture was the second warning. What do you think would happen if we don't complete this paradox to the end in the exact way? Because I'm beginning to think that instead of dissolving into nothing, as if it never happened, it could destroy all of us, perhaps even time itself. Or give us an even worse third warning…"

That was particularly hard to imagine for all parts involved. Hiccup might not show it right now but his "warning", seeing everyone again and having to tell them that they should believe in him to come back, was a lot harder than he'd thought it would be. He'd promised to come back… but if something unexpected happened he could just as well be gone forever. They would never be the wiser until the day they died. And they would never even look for him. Hiccup blamed Simetra; he'd done the same to Artemis, it was so simple to blame the one person he knew was capable of this… and yet hearing of the potential destruction of all of time made Hiccup feel confused about blaming Simetra. Simetra couldn't want that either, right? That _was_ going a bit too far, right? Hiccup didn't know anymore.

However far more distracted by the prospect of another "warning" was Toothless. He still wasn't over the fact that Hiccup had died in his arms… the strange glint in Hiccup's eyes as he realized that he was dying… and telling his only friend to leave before he too died. The tears had helped; only a little, but it was a way of dealing with the heavy feelings that Toothless still hadn't gotten rid of totally. And to even think about a third "warning" or possibly the destruction of time… was doubling that weight on Toothless' heart. Artemis couldn't have held a more motivational speech.

But the greatest fear was still held by Artemis. He could deal with the death of a friend; he'd dealt with his father's supposed one, with Butler's that Holly had then healed. He could deal with the darkest of emotions; with guilt, with anger, with pride. But his torment came in the form of knowing. He knew what had become of himself if he was pushed one step too far. He knew what he would do… what he'd done. His memories showed him that upon his analytical double's return to the real world, he'd been greeted by Hiccup, Toothless, Root, Butler and the unconscious Kronski (though he hadn't actually greeted him). After the punishment had ended, Artemis had made up something that kept them all there and by deceiving his "friends" he had, in just five days, captured all of them and put them in different rooms. Rooms that contained… things… which Artemis had cleverly set up without his "friends" knowing. And after one and a half years of treatment… Artemis didn't want to know what the kind of captivity the analytical Artemis had planned had done to his friends. But he did know… and that was what was eating him away. The knowledge of his own madness, the fragility of his sanity.

When Artemis _knew_ that they'd all been… lost… that he would be unable of saving them… he'd proceeded to go after the leader, the analytical Artemis himself. Hopefully he'd talked some sense into him. But still… if he could break once, he could break again. And that was what scared Artemis beyond all reasonable thought. He couldn't think straight… Artemis quickly checked the screens…

_The older Artemis lifted his hand and made a sign…_

Then Artemis finally noticed Hiccup's backpack. While he would like to move as fast as possible to the time portal… _the group was moving into the library…_ he had to know: "What is that?"

Hiccup was brought out of confusion. He proceeded into cautious happiness. "I got something else besides a door with me…" Hiccup began pulling the straps, "After I made the first one, the second one was easy. It was actually supposed to be improved upon… but I never got the time for that. It's a copy of Toothless' – well, I suppose it's yours now – tailfin!"

And it was. Artemis had only seen the top of it sticking over Hiccup's (his own… forget it… too many Artemis'-syndrome was now affecting all the timelines) head, but now that it was on the ground in front of him, he was looking at a near-perfect replica of the fin that had been burned. Artemis suddenly saw how they could make it to the meeting room in time… "Strap it on Hiccup. And crawl up meanwhile, Toothless. We don't have much time… but this could be the difference between impending destruction and salvation."

Hiccup ignored Artemis' clever use of long words – he should have just stuck with "not much time" and left it at that, but Hiccup supposed it was Artemis' way of showing he was (still) in control – and pinned down Artemis' tail before clicking it into place. Connecting the ropes and wires, tightening the strap and testing everything worked (they were NOT going to suddenly lurch into a wall when flying indoors because of something like a loose rope). _Opal moved distractedly past the library door, thinking about different painful ways of torture…_

For Toothless this was a very weird experience. If it had been weird for Hiccup getting onto Toothless' body and knowing it was Artemis, it was otherworldly for Toothless to get onto his own body and expecting it to fly with him on top. But the third "warning" lured in his heart, right along with the last word Hiccup had uttered, and Toothless went to jump onto the saddle without questioning the logic behind that particular action. But as he moved closer he noticed something… and pulling on the piece of fabric underneath Artemis a skeleton's toothy grin revealed itself in the brightly lit room. Toothless didn't even scream or yell out. It was just too surreal… totally out of nowhere…

Artemis could feel Ho-… the elf's skeleton being pulled out under him and his thought stream was interrupted. He'd been thinking about if he was missing something important… but he couldn't remember it. But that was pushed aside for now… he had some quick explaining to do. "Toothless… Hiccup… this was… Holly," Artemis winced. Acknowledging it hurt him more than he had imagined it could. Holly was still alive he reminded himself. "from… Hiccup's, uhh… massacre. I was placed in a position where I… got her to this place. Please… just get on and… don't ask anymore." The pained tone in Artemis' voice was enough for Toothless and he complied. Toothless understood he wasn't the only one who had gone through a painful ordeal…

Hiccup had also seen the skeleton… shuddered once more… accepted the request… and then crawled onto Artemis. As they now needed to fly they were going to have to strap on to the saddle… this used another twenty seconds… _the group opened the door silently and moved into the hallway, running slowly towards the meeting room…_

Artemis knew the basics of flight. You didn't write doctorates in biology if you weren't a master in different flight techniques. Not only that, any uncertainties he might have had about flight as a dragon had been dispelled when Toothless had showed him the different positions for flying. Although Artemis had only learned it for flexibility control and maneuverability, perhaps a glide if he'd needed it (perhaps if the Cessna had gone too high before Opal decided to shoot the missiles), now he could use it for its true purpose.

Hiccup and Toothless were heavy. Artemis was actually impressed with Toothless' impassiveness when he'd allowed both of them onto him during the battle against Mordana. But Artemis again underestimated his strength and soon it only felt like a minor strain; it was a matter of adapting. The hard part would be the flight. Artemis opened the door to the hallway and following a quick check up on his posture, he took flight… _Opal discovered that she'd been tricked, the group had avoided her. She quickly imbued a powerful mindwiping spell to the room, which would erase three days of memories and quickly pursued the group, she was now running…_

He would forever remember it as having a psychedelic dream with tunnel-vision. The hallways with the portraits passing down reminded Hiccup of… that one time he'd lost the cheat sheet. That first time he'd let Toothless take control of their flight; flying through a forest of stone pillars micromanaging the controls for the tailfin and emerging unscathed on the other side. But still… it was incomparable. Yeah, he'd flown with Toothless a lot. But all of that had been outside. In the sky. Inside flight was a bright white picture, with black spots passing by as they passed doors and portraits and multicolored spots when passing windows, being pushed against his eyes. It went incredibly fast… but Hiccup was combining the emotions he got from Toothless' bond with Artemis' muscles shifting underneath him to simply go along for the ride. He had no idea where he was… left, right, right, left, left, left… the complex layout of Fowl Manor was being traversed in splitseconds.

Toothless was completely lost in his emotions. It was magical… to have the opportunity of seeing things from the other side… feeling the flight as a human… he could feel Hiccup was drawing upon the bond and his feelings to know how to react instinctively to the dragon flying them… and Toothless allowed it. The experience couldn't be traded for anything else and he shared it with Hiccup to allow him to lose some tension. They hadn't had a happy moment for a while. Some would say Toothless was being carefree, but that wasn't the truth. Toothless was very much serious; he simply knew when to be serious and when to let go.

However they were still late and Artemis knew it. He would have to… no, he couldn't burst into the room while the older Artemis was explaining the plan. It would destroy the paradox and send them into… God, would know where. But where else was he supposed to fly… fly… he was flying. Flying? He was flying? The exhilarating feeling caught up with Artemis as he was three corners from their destination. Stress and tenseness melted away, leaving only pure emotion. And suddenly Artemis remembered what he'd tried to remember a little while ago. And everything fell into place…

"Brace yourselves…" Artemis growled. Artemis then dived towards the ground before pulling up. Making a 180 degree spin so that his passengers hung down, Artemis continued the movement into a half-loop before finally flying back towards the control booth.

"What are you doing, Artemis?" Hiccup asked. Or tried to ask as the speed hindered him in asking. But Artemis had heard him: "We're not in any immediate danger from the time destruction; I know how to get out of this… actually it's the only way I can think of. We were already too late, Hiccup, and you know it too…" _Opal was bursting through the door, readying a bolt of lightning, but missed as the group escaped through the time tunnel…_ "…I'll explain everything when we get back to the booth…"

Hiccup's body had continued to respond to Artemis continued flight – while his mind was on Artemis' vague answer – as Hiccup knew they would crash if he didn't, but now that he knew he would get a reason, Hiccup could focus on the flight. It took no more than two minutes to return to the control booth.

Hiccup and Toothless got off Artemis, Hiccup giving him a questioning and a bit demanding look. Toothless was merely a bit curious why they'd turned around. Artemis succumbed under the pressure pretty quickly: "Ok. I'll explain why I think that what we just tried to do was the worst we could have done. First, I have no memory of this event happening in my life. This means that there is no evidence of any kind as to make me think I've been mind wiped. And lo and behold, a door, a… skeleton and video recordings of dragons and fairies are all in this room. So, I needed to ask the right question… something that could give me the answer to what was going on. This was what came to me."

"The, by far, most important question is this: Who is the older Artemis? Who do we know he is? The answer to that question is me, or more specifically my future self, right? So if I was eight years older, as we would be if we missed the time tunnel we just _did_ miss, then it couldn't possibly be me. It could be my younger self, currently still unconscious in the lobby and probably in the process of being brainwashed by Opal to forget all this… but then that couldn't be it either, because his future is ME. So, the only option left is that we somehow escape this time before I get much older, through another tunnel!" Catching a deep breath, Artemis continued.

"We were too late to use the original time tunnel and Opal probably doesn't want to help us seeing as she is the enemy; even if she would help us to preserve the integrity of the progress of time, she would most likely ensure we lost a limb or two in the process. So… what is left? Simple, we need to erase all evidence of us ever being here. The elves will take care of the broken hallway, I'm sure, as when they wake up and find that they are in the destroyed remains of a front lobby in a Mud Man's home… let's just say they somehow forget all about this place. Maybe a remnant of Opal's magic – Holly's antidepressant was powerful stuff, and if Opal is as super powered as we know she is, then a mind wipe spell will probably erase everything about this place to allow for time to continue fluidly. So all _we_ need to do is erase the video evidence from this booth, remove the door, the…" Artemis felt queasy, "body and get out of here."

"Now, the best way of getting rid of the door is simple; we burn it. The… skeleton… is… harder, but not… impossible. We… bury it in… my garden. But take off the… uniform first; we need it. As for the video evidence, I will take care of that… actually, just wait here, I'll take care of all of it."

At this Hiccup protested. "Artemis, you can't just take it upon yourself. You said you would explain everything, but you didn't say anything about how we'd actually get away. How would we find a second time tunnel, when there is no one in this time that can open one?"

Toothless supplied: "And why would we need Holly's uniform?"

Artemis sighed and returned: "We need the uniform to protect the progression of the paradox as it should happen. This… uniform is the one Holly from _my_ time – the future Holly – wore; it allowed me to notice her. Normally her suit makes her completely invisible, but these old uniforms give off a sort of heat wave that allows you to identify her whenever she uses her shielding. We need the uniform because we have already taken it before… I explained the time paradox to you, remember?"

Hiccup nodded. "But what about…?"

"I was getting to that. I don't think you'll go through with my plan, unless we have done all the other things first. So… please, just trust me. I think… no, I'm sure this will work. It's just a matter of sacrifice. If you need confirmation… then… tell me. But please trust me when I say it's better if you know later."

Hiccup and Toothless sighed in unison. Artemis plans usually hinged on the fact that he knew everything while they were left partially in the dark. As Artemis had explained his entire reasoning, Hiccup had hoped he would give up the last, most important part… but apparently they wouldn't accept Artemis plan if they knew now. Hiccup was beginning to see Simetra's qualms about him being way too trusting… and Hiccup really wanted to take up on Artemis' offer and make him tell… but Artemis hadn't let them down before… and Hiccup didn't see a reason to distrust him. They wouldn't do something like killing someone, right? It couldn't be hurtful to anyone… right?

"Fine, Artemis… but involve us in your plan, ok? We're a team, right? So we should act like one. Just because you can do it quickly doesn't mean you have to do it all on your own… so tell us what we should do." Hiccup looked at Toothless, who nodded and they both looked at Artemis with an expectant look.

Smiling slightly, thinking this was a good reaction, and one he'd been hoping for he said: "All right… then listen up…"

(The end of time)

Simetra's heart was beating rapidly. That had been way too close. He'd been found out about the cheating… but he'd managed to make it away. He'd been forced to make the third trial a specific future if they survived… and this particular future was unbeatable. At least that was what the others thought… Simetra knew it could be done. It was just close to impossible. But he had… faith… in his last experiments. So what if it cost him part of his power to feel hope…. They couldn't expect that "the event" had broken him, could they? Revenge would be justly executed… soon.

In any case, it seemed Artemis had figured it out. Or at least most of it… he didn't know that Simetra was secretly doing everything he could to keep them from dying. Simetra knew that Artemis saw what he was about to do as a necessary evil. But maybe he had enough time to at least diminish their hate against him. But Artemis had figured everything else out. Quite impressive for someone who had only been involved seriously in time travel for a month – if you counted the loop – or five days – if you didn't.

But figuring out the last part wasn't necessarily enough… He could only hope the three could pull of the last part of the trial; the chances were slim, but at least the chance was more reasonable than most. He dismissed the machine and pulled up the images it had been showing in the air; it might be using more of his power, but if he was to keep any control over his power he would have to give himself a challenge. He was waiting for the right moment to appear…

(Fowl Manor – control booth)

Everything was ready for the last part of the plan. It could take anywhere between 10 hours and one minute depending on whether Simetra would want them to suffer… Artemis was waiting for the moment the punishment would be reversed.

They'd worked fast. Artemis and Hiccup had carried the door to the collapsed hallway and burned it in the rubble, it wouldn't look out of place even if it was found. As they hadn't been able to make it outside through normal means (as in through the door), Toothless had been the one to crawl out of one of the windows and bury the… bones. No one asked where he'd buried them… And now Artemis was in the middle of finishing the destruction of the evidence; the video recordings as he'd called it. It was simply cutting off a few wires and destroying the correct parts of some machinery… but it had to be done right. Meanwhile, Hiccup was amazed by the technology that could record their movements for further study later… but thinking about the progress that humans in general had made in a thousand years brought a darker thought with it.

Hiccup realized that even if they did make it out of these trials alive, and he somehow got home… he would never look at things as he'd done before. Seeing the future… was a true killer of faith. Hiccup was doubting everything he'd been told. For instance the Gods… in a thousand years his Gods were extinct everywhere but in stories. However actually accepting that there were no Gods going by the name of Odin and Thor and so on… was hard, even if he did know they _probably_ didn't exist. But that "probably" made all the difference and though he was grasping at straws he still thought there had to be something… and therein lay his problem.

He was holding on to two different beliefs and trying to make them fit together. One part of him believing in the fact that Gods held the final say in everything, the other telling him that he controlled his own fate. It wasn't hard to figure out why Hiccup was holding onto both: on one hand he couldn't believe the Gods to be so lax as to allow someone of human stature to control time and allow him to spread misery like this, but if there were no Gods how come the world didn't just spin out of control and explode. And how had the world actually started if there were no Gods?

Toothless was having a simpler time with these "problems" as he didn't exactly believe in normal "Gods". It was more concepts than Gods. The concept of the Sky, dubbed The Sky Lord, and the concept of the Sea, dubbed The Sea Lady. These two were the most important and as long as there was a sky and a sea then these two would protect dragons all over the world. One was providing freedom, the other was providing food. Of course there were some minor concepts as well; one to fire, one to ice, one to earth, one to wind. But these were hardly worth noting in comparison. And as for any afterlife… why bother when you were "blessed" with a lifespan that could last for eons. If you actually managed to live for this long you wouldn't want to be told that you had to go through it all again… but because humans had almost managed to finish what nature had started this wasn't a problem anymore. Dragons didn't live that long anymore. Following an extremely harsh sequence of climate changes, almost all dragons who had more than a million years behind them had been wiped out.

Toothless was young; a mere two centuries behind him. And his entire life had been a battle: The first century was a battle against adaptation as the climate continued its rollercoaster through icy winters and dry summers. The second had been a war against humankind as they begun to invent truly demonic weapons that could catch up with dragons… the outcome of that battle had only just ended. And though he'd seen much, it was only once he'd gotten his first millennia done, that he could even consider being accepted in some social circles for other Night Furies… experience was all that mattered in the end, but to even come close he needed some status that came with a relative age. Though Toothless was sure he had enough experiences behind him to make even the eldest dragon of them all – the leader – green with envy. The bond he had with Hiccup; feelings passing through it when the particular feeling was at its climax, was something that was entirely unique. And he'd been the center of attention in the ending of said war; that had to count for something as well. Of course all of these thoughts about age brought the uncomfortable thought that at some point Hiccup would die and leave Toothless behind with it. When that time came around… he didn't want to think about that right now. No, not right now…

Finally Artemis finished destroying the correct tapes. It was a delicate process, if he destroyed the wrong ones then he would also destroy his own future, but he made no mistakes… as he'd already done all the other times he'd done this. Paradoxes at their worst… Artemis shook his head. He would go mad before long if he kept thinking like this. Of course the last part of his plan was far more… out there.

Artemis was waiting; if he thought about it… would he appear?

"So, you need a helping hand, do you?" said a voice.

Hiccup and Toothless turned around frantically and there stood Simetra. Hiccup almost jumped the guy right then and there, but Artemis growled: "Don't attack, Hiccup and you too, Toothless, stand down." Toothless had also made a movement towards a battle stance, though he knew he would be useless in a human shape. His hands and legs would be too fragile to handle the power that Toothless would undoubtedly send through the limbs.

Hiccup suddenly realized: "This is your plan? This guy… is your plan?" Hiccup cursed for not figuring out earlier; someone whom Artemis knew that he, Hiccup, hated and who had the power to open a time tunnel. Of course it was Simetra! At least it seemed to pain Artemis as well as he flinched when Hiccup lashed out against Artemis for even considering using the guy as the last resort.

"I… well, just calm down and I'll explain. Could you allow me to tell them, Simetra?" Artemis was a bit worried he wouldn't get to explain his reasoning…

But Simetra just shrugged. He seemed unremarked by the outbursts, but inside he was secretly hoping that the others would notice that he'd toned his own urge to mess with his experiments sanity by actually doing this entire conversation in one take. No more quick shifts in moods or facial expressions… he was trying to make a good impression or at least as good as he was allowed.

"Very well, I earlier stated that the most important question was finding out who the older Artemis was. The reason for this is… that if it was my future only, then you two would be dead as you didn't have an older version… and I wouldn't ever allow that. So I thought outside the box… and I realized there was a possibility I had not considered. If you recall, Simetra stated that the punishment lasts for twenty four hours…"

Simetra interrupted, "It's the same time limit no matter what the punishment would be."

Artemis continued as if uninterrupted, but filed the information away for later use, "but as I realized that our 'punishment' came from Simetra's 'One time per trial'-help from the _first_ trial, I knew we had yet to get 'help' in this trial. Now consider if we ask that the 'help' we want in this trial is to be transported forward in time, to the day after the day where this paradox started. Now do you see?"

Hiccup was a bit blank; it was a nice idea… if it wasn't for the fact that it was Simetra conducting this thing… but how did it reassure Artemis that Hiccup and Toothless didn't die. "Not exactly…"

Artemis realized he'd spoken too quickly and jumped over a few things so Artemis explained what lay between the lines he'd just said. "The older Artemis is… _our_ punishment from the _second_ trial. If Simetra can make us switch bodies, then he should be able to combine us into one as well, you see? So we get sent to the future in one body, explain things to Butler, Holly and the others and then we travel back in time and go through this past again. We do as Butler said: We build my past as it happened. And then we take down Opal in the end…"

Hiccup's mind was instantly blown. Could that actually be the truth? Looking back over his memories, he had to admit that the older Artemis had been a bit… off. That had been one of his first thoughts, right? So… it had already happened once before? Did Artemis even realize what he was saying? Hiccup's mind sped up until he was bursting and he finally said, in a defeated tone with heavy breaths in between words: "Do… you even… realize…?"

"I do. It means we need to trust each other _totally_. And I've concluded that there is nothing stopping us. You said it yourself: We're a team. We do trust each other. And Simetra has no choice but to go through with it as _any other attempts at messing with this plan means the destruction of time_. _Or worse._"

Artemis eyed Simetra intently, threateningly, as he said the last words. Simetra just shrugged again. It was clearly a movement he was not used to performing, having usually performed the action by switching out his futures one by one… almost like a stop-motion picture. Simetra wanted to do more for the group, but he couldn't just openly declare that he was all for the plan. The best way he could hide his feelings was appearing indifferent. As for the plan itself… it was his best chance… his only chance; it was basically the only realistic way of the solving this time traveling knot. Well… of course he possessed the power to solve it like Alexander the Great had solved the Gordian knot… he could merely cut straight through time… but it would have repercussions as this was the original future. It could mean he cut through his own existence… and while this result was expected and could probably be healthy to time – he would die which meant he could never do this kind of damage to time again – it wouldn't deal with the main problem. So he needed to stay alive for now. And that meant rolling with the plan.

"I just need you to decide. Simply put, as I make the rules you could have a second left of your punishment or nine and a half hours left. It depends on whether or not I count the time you spent in the loop: If I do then you are overdue and if I don't then we have to wait. I really do not care whatever you choose… although I cannot deny that Arty's plan is untouchable if you choose to go through with it." Simetra smiled inwardly; he'd found a way of acknowledging the plan. Of course none of the group members noticed…

Toothless felt caught, trapped inside an invisible web. He'd never considered if there was a thing as fate… but it seemed that this paradox-thing truly brought out the true nature of fate. He felt he had no choice but to go with this plan, even though it sounded ridiculous, as it had already happened. Toothless couldn't help but think that Artemis had extreme amounts of guts. To accept a punishment and use the punishment as a logical argument, as a bargaining chip in a hostage situation with the continued subsistence of the controller of time who was actually himself… to say that Toothless was feeling that the situation was a bit over his head would be the understatement of the century. Possibly even a lifetime. But eventually, Toothless managed a reply: "Ok. I'll do it… I can't see any other way around this… and it could be interesting…" It could. Knowing that it only lasted twenty-four hours put off the 'punishment'-part and became more like 'interesting experience'-material.

Hiccup was in a similar thought process as Toothless, save the last part. He felt like Simetra was giving in way too easy… was this another trap? Or could Simetra actually be genuine… no, he had to look through the lies! He couldn't be too trusting; it was his fault that Simetra was even created… and he would be the one to end him as well. One way or another. For now though… it seemed they had to go with the flow. Sighing, Hiccup said: "Yeah, I'm in too. But… if Simetra pulls anything… _anything…_ it's over. I think it's _my_ turn to say: I don't care if you're Odin himself… if you pull anything that hurts me or my friends…!"

"Yeah, yeah. Relax… think about it like this… if you actually manage to win you get to ask me twenty questions… think about it, eh? Change the future – yeah, I know you're not going to kill anyone so just deal with the pixie or whatever – and then come to me… I'll answer truthfully and to the best of my ability. You'll only know if you survive though, so make sure you do."

Hiccup had been about to return the comment – how could Simetra be so leaned back about this? – but decided against it when he heard the end. _Why is he suddenly so positive… something's off… Did he just state that the way to win was to deal with Opal? Why is he helping us? _But before Hiccup could say anything, Artemis said from behind Hiccup, with a smile, "We accept the challenge. Are you going to start doing whatever you need to do or do we need to wait nine and a half hours?"

"So impatient…" Simetra mused. And darkness engulfed the room…

As they slumped over, Simetra couldn't help but look at their minds. Artemis was predictably pondering the plan and having thoughts about the difference between "rewriting the future" and "changing the future", Simetra hoped he would get back to that one, it was a very subtle difference, Toothless was having thoughts about the fusion, the experiences he'd get from it; he had always been so adventurous… but Hiccup was the most interesting target to read. He'd gotten the right idea!

Hiccup had also been thinking about his friends… not just Artemis and Hiccup, but his entire village, when he'd made his threat. But Hiccup was also thinking about how everyone would forget about him… he was doubting he would ever return again… and worst of all that no one would come for him. No one had his back except for Artemis and Toothless.

But how could he know that… Simetra smirked, for a moment his interest in misery, in others and himself, overpowering his fear of being discovered of being partial in the trial… _how do you know that no one is coming for you… wouldn't it be interesting if Hiccup knew the truth of that matter…_

(Berk)

Astrid was supposed to stay home and wait for Hiccup to return. It might be anywhere between now and forever before he came back, but as a good woman she was supposed to know her place and wait for him to come home. Bullshit! Currently flying on her Deadly Nadder in a formation with the other dragon trainees who had decided on accompanying her – Snotlout, who came because he still thought Astrid was merely playing hard-to-get, Tuffnut, who came because it would prove that he was the deadliest weapon in the world, Ruffnut, who came because she went wherever her brother went to flaw his plans and to have someone to discuss and fight with and Fishlegs, who came because… well, she didn't really know, but it was probably complicated – and they were all heading in a southbound direction.

Astrid had heard some stories… fishermen who had dared the stormy seas and pulled into Berk begging for shelter for a night… before said fishermen would the next day dare the ocean again. Astrid would never be able to live life like that; she lived for the battle… and currently there was a battle going on! Hiccup was missing and even if she had to cut down that Simetra guy, who sounded very much like the guilty one in Hiccup's story, she would do it if it brought back Hiccup. But back to the stories: They told of strange cultures, delving in mysteries, and Astrid knew that one of them would know what to do… everyone always knew something and an axe and a hard attitude had never failed her before. And if she couldn't do it on her own… her dragon would put most others off and if they needed the combined force, the very varied force of dragons and Vikings, it would make even the most tightlipped man spew the secrets she needed to hear. They were coming for Hiccup… and Toothless as well. But for Astrid, Hiccup was the most important one to bring back…

Stoick had noticed they were gone the next morning, when he'd gotten up from the hangover that was pounding his brain into submission, but the thought never crossed his mind to do as he should do in such a situation and declare them banished from the village. Why should he reprimand anyone for something that he'd wish he could do himself? So, he hadn't told anyone of his discovery… people were a bit slow on the uptake around here… and Hiccup's return to the world of the living was also a means of partying, drinking mead until none of the Vikings could notice that anyone was missing. He only hoped they would find something… and soon.

(Fowl Manor – Lobby)

Waking up was a strange experience. One that the young Fowl had never felt anything like before. He'd had the most vividly imaginative dream he'd ever had; he didn't even think he could imagine that well. Dragons, fairies, weapons that shot laser beams, world domination in his hand and of course respect and recognition within his grasp from discoveries no other man, or kid, on Earth could have made. The last two he knew he was capable of achieving even in the real world… but the others… what could have spawned a thought about fairies? Dragons… bah. But… perhaps he could look into the matter of fairies later… for now he had a deal to make with a certain unpleasant man… it would be necessary, he told himself. He needed the money.

Then he noticed his bed wasn't as soft as it used to be. And he realized he was lying on the floor in the vestibule. Getting up confused he was greeted by a most peculiar sight. Butler was handcuffing a man, Artemis instantly recognized him as Damon Kronski, the man he'd been supposed to do business with, Butler had been shot in the leg, the front door was lying in pieces, a hunting rifle was discarded in a corner, the hallway leading west around the house was blocked by a massive pile of rubble, the smell of burning permeated the air, the weapons cache that Butler thought was his secret was open and in front of it lay a grenade launcher, Artemis quickly closed his eyes. That was an information overload.

For two seconds, Artemis considered fainting again… this couldn't really be happening, could it? He was still dreaming. But Artemis didn't know that a dream could smell of burning and Artemis quickly opened his eyes again and located the rubble as the source of something burning. It was impossible to see what was burning, but Artemis hoped it wasn't anything valuable.

"Butler, what happened?" Artemis made sure his tone was controlled, though he was very confused.

Butler turned towards his employer. "A threat was dealt with, Artemis." Butler couldn't bear to say he couldn't remember… but he could guess that this man had been at least partially responsible. After all he was the only one who'd been there when Butler had woken up. As far as Butler could tell, the other assailants – the ones who had raided his weapons cache (that was supposed to be a secret, damn it!) and shot the left hallway to hell – had left.

"I can see that Butler. I asked what happened, in detail. Would you kindly enlighten me?" Artemis was a bit irritated at his bodyguard's short answer.

Butler swallowed his pride and told the truth: "I can't remember Artemis. But I know this: this guy had an envelope with a check of 100000 euros, most likely payment for the deed of killing you. I suspected you would be interested in that money…"

Artemis smiled. His father wasn't very far away anymore. He suddenly had double the amount of the budget he'd thought he had to use to find his father. And then he noted: "I think Mr. Kronski's career as a religious leader for an obscure sect is over… assassination really doesn't suit the man. I must say I didn't think he had it in him; I suspect that I have been warned to be a better judge of character."

Butler sighed. His employer was impossible when he was trying to speak like a grown-up. And he was even sneering, as if the attempt had been completely pathetic; not the best face to pull in this situation. Butler knew that in two years, maybe three, he would no longer be able to follow the speed at which the young Fowl's brain was moving at. He could only hope that Artemis would end up in the right direction… just bit by bit… that he would get over the loss of his father and that he wouldn't walk down an even darker path. Butler knew he could not influence his young charge in a specific direction, he had to follow Artemis Fowl Sr.'s orders, so it had to be Artemis himself making that change within himself to walk down a brighter path than his father… But for now, one thing was certain… Mr. Kronski would be dealt with… and that meant Butler had a job to do, which didn't involve heavy thinking.

(Tara)

The two fairies had no idea what they had been doing there… Fowl Manor! …but upon calling Foaly they found out they had been on a mission to save the nearly extinct lemur, the silky sifaka lemur, the only known cure for Spelltropy. But the lemur hadn't been there. And instead they'd been caught up in an explosive Mud Man showdown. Both of them were pretty shaken, but they filed it away as stress. By the time they sat in the shuttle, Root had somehow managed to blame the failure on Holly, authority had been reestablished, Holly had been returned to emergency call duty and the world was righted once again.

Foaly had sent Retrieval to control the situation as well as the telekinetic division to erase all evidence of battle from the Manor… by the time they were finished no one would ever be the wiser. What none of them knew was that Opal's mind wiping spell was still in effect and by the time everything had been rebuilt… nothing would remain in their memories. Even Foaly who only saw the room through a screen, felt woozy and the memory subsided into the darkest reaches of his brain. Five days later and there was not a trace of anything having ever gone wrong in Fowl Manor; this was the time that Angeline came home, and two long years began for the young Artemis. Artemis only remembered he had 100000 euro to begin his search for his father... and combining it with the knowledge that the lemur was gone, concluded that he had had a traumatic experience from his deal with Kronski which his brain was keeping under lockdown to spare him a psychological just shrugged it off; he wasn't trying to hurt himself by unlocking the memory and his father was far more important right now...

None of the involved ever suspected any sort of mind wipe being involved in their somewhat sketchy memories…

Another chapter in the bag. Three chapters left of part/act 2. Then we move on to sci-fi! Or… well, I haven't actually decided that part yet. Only that it takes place a thousand years in the future. Part 1 = -1000 years, part 2 = 0 and part 3 = +1000 years. You see the system? Seeing as I count this as released on a Sunday (all-nighter, remember?) I'll say the next will be up Tuesday (not very likely) or Wednesday (far more likely). I'm going to sleep now (local time 12 P.M.)…


	28. Unity

This is an extremely thought out, impulsive story, if that makes any sense. That is… it is extremely impulsive, written from just five lines every chapter, and yet just thought out enough to not be considered amateur hour. I'm my own worst enemy in that sense as I question the ridiculousness of the complex time overlaps I've created, messing up beyond repair anything that could be considered canon. Perhaps canon was still salvageable by the 26th chapter, but now… nope. (oh yeah, I learned a new smiley ^_^)

I feel I should ask if this part of the story did ok anyway… but that would be rushing things. Now, on Monday next week, I'm going on vacation for a week. I'm paying Athens a visit with my mother. It's a tradition to go on one international vacation at least once a year and for the last year before I turn 18 we decided Athens was one of the few European cities we hadn't been to yet. Of course, this means I have to get out the last two chapters of part 2 before this deadline… but I've got time, I think. So no worries. Of course I can ask for reviews at that time, so when I come home… I get an early birthday present! …hopefully. Today's random statistic goes to a random story + statistic about me. The highest height I've been in is 4400 m above sealevel. That was when my mom and I went to Bhutan, a small country between India and Nepal. We had walked for twelve kilometers to get to that point (we had to walk the same way back!) and I had height sickness for two days afterwards. To quote gLados from Portal "That was fun." And for old time's sake: We've reached 2600 hits! O_O! Enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 28: Unity.

Whatever Artemis had been expecting to happen when he opened his eyes (and he had done a lot of thinking on that subject; no one, especially Artemis Fowl, gave up their own body to be subjected to something as far out as a fusion without thinking it through. While in theory possible, seeing as it had already happened to Hiccup and Simetra, and in a wider perspective it was required to join the circle of the paradox, to accept it was… trying. Artemis had tried to compensate by imagining what was going to happen), he didn't expect what he found. He was standing in front of a dark curtain, a kind of a veil that absorbed all light and yet seemed so thin that just to touch it would break it. It was blowing in an invisible wind or was in some other unknown way making wavy motions.

But that wasn't the end of it. Artemis turned around and was greeted by an equally confusing tableau. It was undoubtedly a small part of… his study? Or an improved version of his study, as there were a few items that weren't in his study. It was a desk with a chair in front of it and on the desk stood a computer, a small lamp beside it, some documents neatly stacked in chronological order (how did he know that; he couldn't even read it from this distance?) and a single picture standing in a frame on the leftmost side of the desk. The picture was of him, Butler, Holly, No 1, Foaly, Mulch, his mother and father and the twins in a situation Artemis couldn't ever remember them in… when had they ever posed for a camera? And when had he ever told his family about his friends… But everyone seemed so happy…

Then Artemis understood. This had to be… no, it _was_ his mindroom. Artemis was remembered Hiccup having gone through a similar experience, that memory had been transferred via the time tunnel earlier, and he remembered Simetra explaining the different parts of his room to Hiccup as having different symbolic values. It had devastated Hiccup… to find out everything about himself put up in a very real way… but Artemis didn't see anything of equal capability to break him.

Artemis noticed he had returned to human shape. Was this a mental image of himself or was it actually him walking inside his own mindroom? That would be tested at a later date…

For now, Artemis moved towards the desk. Sitting in the desk he began to look closer at the different aspects of his own essence. While this thought was creeping him out a bit – he still had Hiccup's near breakdown in fresh memory – Artemis was not afraid of his own mind. He picked up a few documents and scanned their contents. It was choices.

All the choices he'd made in his relatively short life had been set up in an extremely methodical fashion. If Artemis didn't know any better he would think he'd somehow returned to and was now inside his analytical counterpart's mindset. They were in chronological order… but it appeared there was also a system of relevance. For instance in the stack of the most important decisions the first one was: Why did he kidnap Holly? And there were reasons on that document. A lot of them. But none of them appealed to Artemis at all… and reading rapidly through the other documents, there were some particular harsh ones. Who did Artemis blame for his father's kidnapping? Who did Artemis blame for the hurt he'd caused his only friends? Who did Artemis blame for thinking up the most ridiculous plots, with the sole purpose of satisfying his endless thirst for knowledge, and ending up with huge messes on his hands? Artemis blamed himself… much more than he'd ever like to admit. He could see it was destroying him… but what could he do?

Artemis believed he could do everything by himself and if something went wrong it was a lack of instruction from his side that had caused the incident. And of course… his friends… Artemis had tried to distance himself from their problems but found he was unable to do so. Simply because Artemis thought he could help… and while he probably could it was usually with a price to pay.

Pushing aside the rest of the documents, not wanting to delve into his guilt (The last one read: Why did Artemis use his left hand to open the door that had brought him into the room with his sick Mother, that day he was eleven and a half years old? This was _of course_ the entire reason behind Artemis; he'd used his left hand! … well, it lay in the irrelevant stack, but that was merely a mistake. This was the reason Artemis felt guilty), Artemis then focused on the picture. It was… Artemis realized… a symbol of his inability to prioritize his friends. Hiccup had had hundreds of pictures in his room, of Astrid and Toothless. But Artemis had one picture to all of his friends and family… and even worse, Hiccup and Toothless weren't anywhere in the picture. Artemis wondered why they weren't here – when Hiccup had doubted Astrid she'd momentarily vanished, so now that he was thinking about Hiccup and Toothless, shouldn't they appear? – but not wanting to delve into even more questions, he turned his attention to the computer.

It was completely blank. No power to turn it on either. Perhaps it represented his hunger for said truth; he wanted to be able to do a search on anything… but he knew that it was an impossible task to know everything. Was that what it represented? Artemis didn't want any of this… why were all three aspects of him so negative? One was listing his every mistake and hounding him every second of the day, another was telling him that he had no time for his friends and some of them weren't even in the picture and the last told him that his dream was a doomed failure. Artemis made a decision; yes, he would continue to search for truth, but only when it came to him. He would prove he could keep the urge at bay… he would focus on what he _knew_ was the most important things. And as he made that decision… the computer changed into a notepad, with only so much space. Suddenly, Artemis was only searching for the important truths; not all truth.

Smiling at his discovery he then focused on the picture and promised himself he would see more of his friends… but nothing changed. For a moment Artemis was confused, but then he grasped the meaning: It was only if he was actually prepared for such a change that he could change it… he couldn't lie to himself. That was a rather painful fact…

"Artemis!" a voice shouted from behind him.

Artemis turned around and got off the chair, but he was only greeted by the dark, flickering curtain. "Hello, who is there?" Artemis asked. Was this a part of the fusion? It hadn't been Hiccup's nor Toothless' voice, so Artemis was confused.

No answer came. Artemis walked over to the curtain. Braving himself, he then touched the thin layer of darkness… and was surprised to find that when he retracted his hand, it was no longer there. It was no longer… there! Artemis thought he would be reeling in pain – he'd just lost his right hand! – but nothing came. He was staring at the place his hand should be… but there was nothing. He could look into his hand… and see his blood flowing normally, his muscles contracting normally as he moved the arm. Was this… part of a mental test or something? At least this answered his question; he was a mental image projected into his mindroom, not the real body transported inside of himself.

Staring suspiciously at the seemingly harmless black cover, Artemis hoped it would give him any sort of clue on how to get out of here. But nothing came. Sinking deeply as a conclusion finally emerged… Artemis didn't like doing things without thinking things through… but there was nothing else to do in his room other than reflect on past failures… and that wasn't a particularly tempting thought. So Artemis did it; he considered this as a test of trust… and he stepped through the veil. The image of Artemis body dissolved like he was walking into a waterfall of acid.

Instantly, everything changed character. It was like moving from a standstill black and white picture, and suddenly emerging into a moving world of color. Artemis suddenly had access to every thought that had ever passed through him, Hiccup or Toothless… and it was unnerving to notice that they could do the same with him.

**Artemis, so good of you to join us…** Toothless joked.

Artemis realized he couldn't actually see, as his body – or the image of his body – no longer existed, but he could still 'see'. And speak… "So you're saying I was much slower than you?" Artemis replied, not believing for a second that the other two had been faster than him… and he knew it was so.

_Maybe thirty seconds… there was a voice that called my name from the curtain… was that you?_ Hiccup asked.

"No… but a voice called me as well. Who do you suppose it was?" Artemis got the answer a nanosecond later… and even though Hiccup answered him, he didn't need to answer him. They knew everything the other knew before they could even say it… but they'd worked out that to focus they would say the important things out loud. So when Hiccup answered, _I think it was our subconscious… the unseen things within us_, Artemis knew he should focus on that statement, and not review the social structure of Vikings or look at the bond that Hiccup and Toothless had… which he was now temporarily a part of. Or at least as much as he could. It seemed the connection was deeper than even a fusion, as they had kept it, and though Artemis could see everything that passed through it, he couldn't interact with it. It was a mystery… and Artemis decided to keep it that way. Fending off knowledge that wasn't his place to know… he had to control himself and focus on his goal of finding the truth that mattered to him!

On the other hand, Toothless' mindscape did interest him… and though Artemis tried to ignore the urge to snoop around, Toothless allowed him in; not, that he could stop Artemis from instantly knowing, but it was good to know you had permission. Toothless' mindroom was… an entire world. He was standing on the top of a high mountain. The view of the world seemed to symbolize all of Toothless' desire to explore all of it. To experience all of it. The reason he was standing on a high mountain could symbolize a bit of his pride. A saddle made for Toothless, seemed to symbolize Hiccup as part of his life… All in all Toothless had a huge mindroom and thus had not had the time to search for any more specific symbols. Toothless had found the veil of darkness, hovering in the air at the peak of the mountain, beside the saddle, so the mountain seemed to be the center. Perhaps the mountain could also symbolize the foundation of his being as a dragon; the instincts. Or it could be a part of his stubbornness… so many symbols! Was all of it really going on at the same time in Toothless' mind? Artemis remembered the clarity that had come with being draconic, but that couldn't mean that all of these things were actually on Toothless' mind all the time… right?

Artemis was being silly of course. It was merely Toothless' age (now revealed to both of them) that had given him time to know more about himself. He was the more experienced of all three of them… and thus had had a lot of time to think a lot of things through. But that didn't mean that Toothless' subconscious was any smaller than Hiccup's or Artemis'.

And on the subject of mindrooms, Hiccup's mindroom hadn't changed very much since he'd left it… with the exception of one thing. A door, standing ajar, had appeared in one of the corners… and as such an identical one was present somewhere in Toothless' mindscape, Toothless hadn't had the time to find it, but he knew it was somewhere in there. The door itself was very neutral, just a plain wooden door, however for the opposite party each door _represented_, as in really _exhumed_, the others essence. For Hiccup, this door was just so much like Toothless, for Toothless the door was so much like Hiccup. A golden wind poured through the crack of each door… feelings in its true form. Artemis was utterly fascinated by this, and wasn't brought out of his fascination until a good question was asked by Toothless:

**So, what do we do? How do we actually return to the real world?**

And they instantly knew how to because Hiccup had experience in this field… _Hang on, Artemis, I'm sending you out to scour the terrain…_

(Fowl Manor – Closet – Twentieth take, again)

Artemis opened his eyes. A feeling of pure power coursed through him as the input of reality tripled; was this really supposed to be a punishment? Again, it seemed counterintuitive that a punishment actually made a group stronger… but that thought spawned even more thoughts, as Artemis accessed Hiccup's share of opinions on the subject. _Why was Simetra helping them?_ Emphasize, helping! Artemis cursed, why hadn't he seen that earlier. Simetra _was_ helping them! It was obvious; the 'once-per-trial-help' was a blatant cheating method for completing the trials. And Simetra had even openly stated that beating Opal would change the future, completing the second trial in the process.

Change, not rewrite, the future. Apparently there was a difference though neither of the three could answer wherein the difference lay. At the word, rewrite, an involuntary shudder went through all of them.

And not to forget the last nail in the coffin: even though no one in the group had actually held onto Holly's uniform when they'd passed out, it now lay stuffed into Artemis' pant pocket. The Neutrino 1000 hung out of the back pocket. Simetra _had_ to have put it there.

There was also a number of other things that became clearer. All three of them had at some point questioned why they had been so… out of it. It seemed that Artemis had become more prone to anger… something he'd never usually allow himself, but as he was in Toothless body and that body had a specific construction, specific instincts, Artemis had been angrier than usual… and he'd even shown it sometimes. The same deal with Toothless, who had become a lot more emotional… Toothless' professionalism should have shone through in some situations, but instead he'd succumbed to fear sometimes. Or tears even, though no one blamed him for that, as they had all seen the memory with Hiccup passing on. And finally Hiccup who had stayed exceptionally calm for all of the different shocks that he'd gone through… maybe he'd been shocked a bit… but he'd always returned to being able to calmly break down the situation; that was a trait of Artemis'. In general, the three had come as close to each other as it was possible to… and it was a bit cramped. It didn't matter that they'd been through all sorts of things together; no one, human or dragon, would ever want another to see exactly what they felt about them all the time. There was such a thing as too intimate.

That was when Artemis noticed where they were… they were inside a closet! And Artemis could suddenly feel the grace of God… well, he got changed instantly much to the protests of Hiccup and Toothless. Maybe Artemis hadn't been in a bath for a month (!), but now he was at least wearing clean clothes. A clean suit, clean shoes, something that you could actually be seen in. Artemis felt like he was ready to believe…

There was even a mirror and everything. Artemis quickly examined himself and found that he really was looking like himself… this was a good thing, as everything would have been a lot harder if he'd had, say streaks of Hiccup's light brown hair in his darker hair. Or imagine if he'd had Toothless arms or something! Well, almost. The difference was subtle, but his eyes were different. The usual colors of Artemis' eyes were blue and hazel, a form of acquired heterochromia iridum known as complete heterochromia. However, in the pupillary zone of both of his eyes another type of heterochromia iridum had made itself present, this one was known as sectoral heterochromia more specifically central heterochromia. The innermost part of his iris was green, while the color then gradually faded into the blue or hazel colors that made up the ciliary zone, or the outermost part of his iris.

Grinning, Artemis realized he'd just proven beyond doubt that the soul existed; memories, that came from neurons, had nothing to do with eye pigmentation. Artemis didn't know he'd just rediscovered one of his observations from a long time ago but his conclusion was the same: science was still clueless about some things…

Artemis then realized that they should probably get a move on and find the others. Butler, Holly, No 1, Qwan and Foaly, they all needed an explanation. Artemis burst out of the closet…

It was another random, could-as-well-have-been-a-blank-room, bedroom. The room wasn't saying anything just like the other sixty-two bedrooms in the Manor. Just as boring… Artemis would have to change that. It couldn't do to have people think he wasn't even interested in his own house.

**Could you get a move on? It's a bit… stuffed in here… and the faster you move, the less time we have to deal with combined bathroom breaks… if we're fast we could even avoid one altogether…**

Artemis shuddered. Toothless made a good point.

Moving into the hallway, he saw he was in the same hallway that Butler had been guarding. But Butler was gone. Artemis then remembered he had to be inside the room, maybe they were in the middle of receiving his… resignation from the world, his goodbye. Artemis thought about his reasoning for wanting to suicide… without knowledge a lot of mistakes are made, he hadn't known about Simetra or that he could have a chance of getting home… but Artemis couldn't have a relapse already! Only knowledge that Artemis could have access to. That was his new guideline. As he moved towards the door, it suddenly opened.

A wall assaulted Artemis.

"Artemis! You're back!"

Trying to stay conscious was a challenge, let alone breathe, but Artemis could recognize the bellowing voice and he realized he was being subjected to the full force of Butler's crushing hug. "Being… strangled… please…" he managed to get out. Butler let go of him.

When Artemis could again see for the stars that had appeared in his eyes and Artemis stood face to face with the group Artemis truly felt home again. They were all there. Well, Foaly had been muted so he couldn't ruin the moment; they would have to get him back online soon. Butler then asked: "What happened, Artemis?"

Such a simple question. Such a complicated answer. Not really knowing how to start, Artemis waited for just a second too long… Holly exclaimed: "Artemis your eyes, what happened to your eyes?"

Artemis sighed; Holly was just as bad with the overprotective stuff, as Toothless was to Hiccup (**I heard that!**). And this story was going to take an eternity to explain… where to begin?

Suddenly a massive shockwave shook the foundation of the house. Holly was too torn apart between the sudden sound and the reappearance of Artemis to fall into her natural 'soldier'-routine, but Butler was already on the move… he didn't get very far though, as Artemis grabbed onto him and held him back. "Stop, Butler!"

Butler was conflicted. An attack, sounding very much like a missile strike, had hit just outside the Manor and yet a lookalike of Artemis was ordering him to stand down. Butler quickly made a decision: "Artemis, if it is you, what is my name?"

Artemis whispered, so Opal did not hear: "It is Domovoi, old friend."

Butler wore a huge smile as he got up from the whisper. Letting his shoulders fall into a relaxed position, he once again fell into the role of the friend, not the bodyguard. It was hard to let go of the explosion outside… but Artemis usually knew what he was talking about. So Butler asked: "I think you owe us an explanation… if you don't vanish within seconds like before…"

"Well, I'm not planning to… but the situation is still serious. I'll fill you in on the details… but I think Foaly needs to hear this as well…"

(Three hours later)

Sharing (most) of the story had proven to be quite a headache. Everyone wanted to hear everything, why it had happened, how it had happened, they all needed time to process the facts and of course the facts didn't always seem so steadfast – to be quite frank most of them seemed like a phony made-up story. But they all believed in it; Artemis had some proof beside Butler's name. For one, the uniform and the weapon…

Holly was thrilled she was going with Artemis. When Holly was with Artemis, even though they attracted all sorts of bad attention, they usually stayed safe, it came out alright. And Holly would be able to look after Artemis… so he didn't blow himself up on purpose with another missile! For Frond's sake, that was going too far even for a deception of Artemis'. But the fact that she was in fact not speaking to just Artemis… but also a Viking (some barbarian culture from a thousand years ago) and a dragon (a mythological creature, made up by humans), was just pushing it a bit.

Artemis had "allowed" (more like Hiccup and Toothless demanding to be let out of the mindscape as well) Hiccup and Toothless to each introduce themselves. It hadn't exactly gone over well with Butler who was the only one who didn't have an automatic translator in the form of magic and therefore only heard the Ancient Norse as gibberish. But Butler wasn't the one who needed reassurance – he believed Artemis wholly – so he was good. However the rest of the group… just because "Artemis" said something in a different language didn't mean he was actually a different person. Foaly had joked about an Atlantis Complex second stage… bu eventually they all believed Artemis hadn't completely lost it.

Not for the first time did Toothless wish for something like half transformations to actually have been possible. Hey, if everything else had worked, everything else had been possible, why couldn't this be as well?

Hiccup sighed at his dragons antics. …but it would be pretty cool. Perhaps they could test it out later…

Meanwhile their conversation seemed to be coming to an end. Artemis had left out quite a few parts… but they were necessary as Opal was undoubtedly listening in through the cameras. He'd purposefully said that Qwan would leave and Opal wouldn't make a move towards any of them. He'd then instructed Butler to patrol the hallways and keeping an eye out for disturbances. He'd instructed Holly, No 1 and Foaly's laptop to be taken into the meeting room.

**Are you sure, Artemis, you don't want to warn Butler?** Toothless asked.

Artemis really wanted to… but he knew that if Butler knew he was going to be attacked then he would resist. So Artemis watched as his oldest friend walk towards his fate… sinking deeply as he knew this would be another thing to be written into his extensive library of choices. Where would he prioritize this one? Would Butler be considered so unimportant that this choice was 'irrelevant'? Or had Artemis somehow forced himself to think about this situation as the defining factor of his decision to turn over a new leaf? Was this really what friends did to each other? How could he change the picture into many… how could he make friendship a more dominating part of him, so he did not break down as his analytical counterpart had done…?

_Artemis… I know this is your decision and you should make the decision on your own, but if you force _that_ decision then it will never be a true one. And I know you care about truth… what I'm saying is you don't need to strive for satisfying everyone in a friendship; if your friends don't accept you for who you are then they aren't your friends… I know all about that. You are used to respect, but that isn't friendship. However, Butler, Holly, No 1 even Foaly, they're all your friends… and friends can handle when you aren't ready to tell them things. Another thing, there is no such thing as "perfect friendship". At times, there will be disagreements and that is when you will truly know if your friends accept you for who you are. And Butler knows you… he _knows_ that you know he won't be hurt if this is a part of your plan! Trust your friends, ok?_ Hiccup said. Well, thought.

Artemis was baffled. Being taught the ways of friendship, he realized suddenly what had gone so wrong at Saint Bartleby. Yeah, he'd been a bit obnoxious at the time, thinking he was above the rest, which he was, but that shouldn't have kept him from making friends. But it was him… him, who had tried to push perfection onto something that wasn't supposed to be perfect. And then he'd mistakenly thought that the respect he'd been shown was enough. Artemis had mistaken respect for friendship, or rather, he'd dismissed friendship as useless. So Artemis had had the respect of his classmates and expected that that was all there was to friendship. Now, Artemis was getting to see the other side of loneliness, the side where you, instead of embracing the loneliness and planning how to gain the most respect from others to show them that they should be interested in gaining _Artemis'_ respect, actually tried to be social, tried to be another just to be friends. And Hiccup had realized that if people weren't interested in who he really was, then he didn't consider them his real friends.

Artemis couldn't help but wonder; Hiccup's face was probably more sympathetic than Artemis' so he had a head start there in making new friends… perhaps Artemis should get a pair of glasses? Wasn't that supposed to raise sympathy?

_You are impossible, Artemis, you don't analyze friendship… think of it as part of those "mysteries". Just move along with them… be yourself and if it works then it works and if it breaks then it breaks…_

These were the times when Artemis really wished he had his head alone, just for a moment. Deciding, enough was enough, there was a time for deep pondering, and a time for ingenious reconstruction of one's past, Artemis set to work.

(End of time)

Screw it all!

Simetra was more than a bit angry at the moment; he shouldn't have called the machine away. It needed a good beating! Nothing escaped the all-seeing eyes of the other members of his group… and they'd discovered he was partial. Now almost everything had been taken from him. He'd been left with barely enough power to recall the group if they ever succeeded in changing the future.

The difference between changing the future and rewriting it was a simple matter. Rewriting meant you did something that wasn't supposed to be possible at the given moment. For instance, take the example with the man who wanted to suicide in front of the bus again. How was he supposed to know that his unborn son was currently in the belly of his girlfriend? And that knowing this fact would give him the strength to live again? Only by outside intervention could this fact be made known to the man… and therein lay the difference. Changing the future meant that you didn't know what time had originally planned to happen, but you still went ahead and changed it, against all odds. This could be that the man only got badly beaten instead of dying, and then went on to become a better, changed person. Rewriting meant that you suddenly gained knowledge you couldn't possibly know, gained superpowers to know about the future as it was supposed to happen and then acted accordingly.

Artemis had failed in deciphering the "warnings" that time had. There weren't three, there were five. The first was a simple cut-and-paste type of "warning". If something didn't exist then it would be cut out and if it did, then it would be pasted into the already existing future – as had happened with Hiccup and him. Eventually the two personalities would turn into one (about a year would pass) and order would have been reestablished, but if you didn't understand the first "warning" the second would follow. This was, of course, the meltdown of time, as demonstrated by the time hole. This would also wear down over time and eventually restore order. Of course on the inside of the time hole a literal eternity would have passed, turning everything into dust, even though only one second passed in real time. Simetra suspected this was what had happened to Holly Short – she'd been turned into a skeleton in a single second – when his subject, experiment 6, had passed over into a very dark version of his own future. You didn't become a skeleton over just one and a half years, everyone knew that. But a time span of 30 million years being compiled to a single second… perhaps those bones had been a sturdier than most.

However if you still didn't get the "warning" – Good Lord, you were quite a dimwit, weren't you – then the loop, the third "warning", would be put into effect. This was the first of the severe ones, the ones that could potentially continue forever and yet not forever as it was limited to a specific time frame. And if you had somehow lost enough braincells to continue your endeavor in poking time itself and seeing how pissed off you could make it, then the fourth "warning" definitely would scare you off. At this point even time had become a little confused and thus it put together a future that wasn't ever possible. Basically the ultimate homage to Murphy's Law: "Anything that can happen, will happen!"

And the fifth "warning" had luckily stayed away… for now… that one was a true breaker of sanity. Simetra had only once seen the edge of time, the point where time passed into infinity, and the fifth "warning" was supposed to be even worse than that! The memory of seeing the edge would kill him if he ever tried to recover it; even part of infinity was infinite. And the fifth "warning" was supposed to be worse than that! The sixth "warning" didn't exist: At that point time would dissolve into nothing and nothing would end as well. The absence of anything would be the end of this universe for all eternity, or seeing as time wouldn't exist, it would simply end.

Calming down, as he always did when reviewing facts, Simetra went directly from anger to smiling evilly. They might have taken away his power… almost… but he still had the chance to give his experiments a chance at knowledge. Twenty questions… if they survived. Simetra had no way of knowing if they did stand a chance of survival anymore… but taking into account that Hiccup had been the first person ever to realize that Simetra was actually blatantly helping his subjects as much as possible, that Toothless was the first dragon to ever appear in the real universe and that Artemis Fowl most likely had a plan that would blow Opal Koboi out of the kiddie pool, Simetra could only look at the image that had been conjured up in the air for him… and he could hope.

(Fowl Manor – ten hours later)

If this wasn't cool, then nothing was. Apparently, there was a way of using the fusion to its full potential. And they had had ten hours to complete it… Toothless was enjoying his own ego quite a bit right now. There was a reason for the confidence though.

As Artemis had thought immediately following the departure of Butler and after seeing the group of demon, centaur and fairy off to the meeting room, they needed some way of separation. It would otherwise lead to inevitable conflict. So thinking about it for a quarter of an hour, Toothless had suddenly suggested they try the half transformation-thing. It had failed… many tears were shed in the process… they were mourning the loss of breaking the scale of wicked badassery.

But it did lead to an important discovery. So now, Toothless was in control of the body, Artemis controlled the facial expressions and head and Hiccup controlled the mind and mouth. This had at first been very disconcerting for all involved parties. Toothless had no head, and thus his "mind", his consciousness, hovered where the head should have been, but he wasn't actually inside the head. Artemis had the same out-of-body experience when it came to his body which just dangled aimlessly from his fixed head. Finally Hiccup, whose task was to speak, had no body at all except for the mouth. This triple team also explained how the Older Artemis had been perfection itself with his body language: Toothless had a very natural way of walking as a human, as he was extremely quick at adapting and learning, and had thus learned a multitude of stances, Artemis was one of the best at reading other people and from that he knew how to control his own facial expression as well and all Hiccup had to do was remember what the Older Artemis had said and say it with the correct intonation.

Best of all, this allowed them their own separate sphere of consciousness, in which they didn't feel like they were judged every two seconds by one of the others reading a previous memory, such as Artemis seeing Toothless first reaction to Artemis as having a darkness in his heart and thus unworthy of Toothless' trust. That had been a bit harsh to discover… or Hiccup seeing Artemis executing his crazy lie to all the Vikings and purposefully continue to describe the dragons as evil. But now those problematic days… uh, hours, were over. All they needed to do was work in perfect tandem with each other and it would be smooth sailing from here. They still had a mental connection with each other – otherwise such teamwork would have been impossible – but it was more a transfer of intentions and it had to be focused upon if the three wanted to contact each other with words.

The only downfall of this seemed that for one the "reality-input" returned to normal. Not really a disadvantage… but the second was a bit more alarming. No matter what combination Artemis tried to use, he couldn't find his magic. Apparently, since he was only a third of the combined soul, Artemis magic was unavailable to him.

"Are you ready?" No 1 asked. While he would have asked that Holly and Artemis should get off their clothes, or at least most of it, before attempting time travel, Artemis had informed them of the time paradox that was in motion. This reassured No 1 that he would not only have the energy necessary to perform the spell, but Artemis and Holly wouldn't come out the other end having a Neutrino for a spine because of lack of concentration. No 1 supposed it had to do with the mass-to-mind ratio; if Artemis really was three persons at once, then their combined concentration could surely transport two bodies.

Artemis nodded. The only thing he'd needed, other than giving the gun and uniform to Holly, was ask for her iris-camera in return. As they were blue and hazel, this would cover up Artemis' revealing eyes.

Holly looked down at herself, this outfit brought too many memories about… the Hamburg incident (never speak its name again!)… but they were ready and she knew it. It was time to save the world again… or the time-space continuum. One thing or another… same deal. It was becoming routine to deal with these things. Artemis had officially dried up the amount of things he could do to surprise her… nothing would _ever_ surprise her again.

So when she five seconds later entered the time tunnel and saw the minds, plural, of Artemis (no, that statement didn't surprise her), she was instantly surprised about the fact that Artemis had left out so much of their story… for instance, that she, Holly, had died. Again. And irreversibly this time… somewhere out there, a universe missed her living, breathing body. Even her dead body. Instead, Holly's skeleton (SKELETON!) lay buried in Artemis' garden. How messed up was that?

But that didn't stop the craziness. Oh no, what about the fact that the clothes she was wearing, the gun strapped to her belt were both part of an endless loop. If you thought about it like that… how had it all started? Same thing with the Simetra paradox… what had started it? Time itself? God? Had it even started from somewhere? Holly felt the headache coming from a mile away… but she didn't have time for such things. More things attracted her attention…

Such as the fact that Artemis loved her… She didn't get to emphasize on that thought and nudge Artemis (more like shove (or perhaps smash into him mentally)) for thinking such a thing. But deep down… Holly could see where Artemis was coming from. She had also had some thoughts… However it was doomed to failure from the get go… she would outlive him by a more than a few centuries… painfully much like the dragon would outlive his rider, Holly absentmindedly realized, but this was love. Friendship she could understand would be painful to lose, but love could be absolutely devastating. As shown by the analytical Artemis' extreme coldness. He'd lost everything in a minute. So Holly had to distance herself somehow… as to not give in to love and risk such a situation ever becoming apparent again. So many things to think about, but it was too late to act on any of it, because they were now exiting into the meeting room… Holly shielded herself as they materialized.

The tableau that greeted them was memorable. The younger Fowl standing dead center between the three key points of the room; Butler and the exit being one, Hiccup and Artemis' bound bodies housing Toothless and Hiccup being another and the time portal, which had now closed behind them, being the third. The younger Fowl was standing with the posture of a director, someone in control, an artful look in his eyes as he sucked information from the sight of the newcomers. It was the greatest Christmas ever in Artemis Fowl jr. the young's eyes and it wasn't even Christmas. He had a hand up so Butler wouldn't do anything, and then he spoke:

"I think… I am convinced. And you did not even speak a single word, Mr. Fowl or should I call you Artemis 1," the younger Fowl said to the captured body of Artemis. "And you, should I call you Artemis 2?"

Artemis put his facial features into disbelief – not very hard – Toothless made a faltering posture and Hiccup breathed: "What…?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Does time travel mess up memories? Are you not Artemis Fowl?" the young Fowl asked, clearly amused about that prospect. But it was clear he was feeling compelled to regain control over an explosive situation and he tried to defuse the situation's tenseness. The defusing came, however, in the form of another; "Artemis?" Artemis 1 asked.

The younger and the older Fowl both turned their heads towards Hiccup, as did Butler. They had made the motion at exactly the same time, staring down Hiccup inside Artemis' body. "Never mind."

Hiccup then remembered what came next as he answered the previous questions: "I do not think that time travel mess up memories. And yes, I am Artemis Fowl… the Second, if that specifies it."

"Good. Then you are Old Artemis, he is Middle Artemis," the young Fowl pointed in the direction of the bound Hiccup, "and I shall be Young Artemis. That way we can keep track of who is who and address each other accordingly."

"But…" Hiccup said desperately, as Artemis put his facial features into confusion. "Is this not the day of the event?"

"The event?"

"Mother… and… you know, right?"

"That… was a few days ago, yes."

Information slipup! Artemis internally scoffed at his younger self's unprofessionalism. That sentence had been the younger Fowl's first mistake… one that had confirmed his suspicions later. Otherwise, Artemis couldn't have guessed the lemur was still in the house later on. But Artemis still felt with the expression upon the younger Fowl's face, as he recalled the open wound in his heart.

"Is time travel an imprecise art? Is that why both of you have asked about when you are?" the younger Fowl then countered, going from sad to sharp instantly.

"I don't know about the other me," a gesture to the middle Artemis followed, "but yes it is quite imprecise. It's fueled by emotions, you see."

"You don't know about this one?" Eyes narrowing in suspicion, confusion pierced Artemis.

"No." he answered, untruthfully.

The young Fowl then turned to middle Artemis triumphantly: "So, it is you who is the latest, the older one? You have already been Old Artemis, have you?"

_Oh man… I know my past self can't answer that question…_

"Listen, it's all well and good that we're trying to work it out," Hiccup interrupted, "but Mother is sick and dying. I came back to change a specific future – I came back for the lemur. Is it still here?"

The younger Fowl spluttered at this fountain of information. Paling at what the end of the statement implied, he tried to gain control of his voice: "So… I… why?"

Hiccup coldly answered him: "The lemur's brain fluid is the only known cure for what Mother has."

"I did the deal? And now Mother is dying because of… me?" Artemis nodded. And the younger Fowl crashed, for five seconds the world was lost to him. _Five seconds? What the hell kind of mental drive could allow one to recover from that discovery so quickly?_ Hiccup couldn't help but wonder. Then he realized that this was Artemis they were talking about. Family and friends weren't prioritized as much as he wanted to. There was some kind of… disagreement between Artemis' want to protect his family… and the priority he gave them in daily life. Hiccup hoped Artemis would find his answer soon.

Meanwhile, the younger Fowl had finished thinking things through: "So, Middle Artemis, who is your friend?" he asked. He was of course referencing to Toothless in Hiccup's body. But Hiccup knew he didn't need to worry. Hiccup found he was actually having a bit of a breather… he knew, Artemis knew and Toothless knew what was going to happen! As long as they focused minimally, they could do this!

Toothless had no time for a breather. Going through natural movements, one by one, actually focusing on making said movements, was harder than advertised. He didn't really hear much of the conversation as a result.

A small tune played out in the room. It was one Artemis himself had composed. Clearly annoyed with the timing, Artemis picked up the phone: "Hello, who is it?" … "I… ok?" Staring at the phone as if it was an iron gate that had suddenly shut in his face, Artemis then looked towards his captives, an empty expression worn on his face. The older Artemis couldn't help, but repeat the thought on the unprofessionalism; his younger self was clearly unable to contain his emotions having shown a breakdown, an annoyance and now a loss of control to his captives. That face couldn't be mistaken as anything other than defeat; compliance with the demands made by an outside source. It was almost like grading a video of his own performance; something Artemis had done to get better at containing his emotions. It was a vague memory, but he remembered… something about having to begin training his ability to read people and be unreadable himself. Artemis shook that memory away; the conversation was getting interesting.

"I'm Hiccup. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. This is Toothless. And the one, who just told you to call him Toothless, is Artemis Fowl the Second." The middle Artemis, or the now identified Hiccup, said.

(Half an hour later)

"You… can come. The meeting room… the one where Father always held his meetings. That is where we're at." Again with the defeated tone; now it wasn't just in his face, but in his voice as well? Artemis realized that he had to calm down… he'd been young, innocent (yeah, right!) and stupid (definitely!).

As the dragon Artemis made his entrance and everyone smiled, for one reason or another, the Older Artemis smiled as well. He knew something the others didn't. It was the ultimate advantage… and he wasn't ever going to spill the beans.

Oh my god. I just plagiarized my own stories dialogue… duh. Well, I don't particularly like to say "And then this happened just the way it did, as you read ten chapters ago." Instead I get to work with a new perspective! I hope I can get out the next two chapters in time, before I leave on vacation, but I will fight my battle against the words valiantly. Not going down without a fight… Now I absolutely have to release one of the two remaining chapters on time, otherwise I won't reach chapter 30 (end of part 2), before going on vacation! And… yeah I just pulled another all-nighter to release this chapter; again, I consider this released Wednesday as I haven't slept yet. And again, please don't worry too much about my lost sleep. I might not be an insomniac, but I have some seriously godlike sleeping habits which means I can just take out ten hours of sleep somewhere and put it somewhere else. Yeah, I'm awesome like that. Huh… that is one of the few things I have confidence in: My sleeping habits! That's just sad… Still… These past two weeks have been beyond crazy as to RL (Real Life) issues. Except for school; weird… But it will be good with some vacation. Longest end rant I've ever written…


	29. Showdown

VACATION! That rules… but don't even think having vacation is easy. Oh no... Friday was one of "those days"! Yup, one of "those days". The days where you seem to have predicted what is going to happen and _everything_ else happens. When you talk about the sun, it shines. When you talk about Murphy's Law, it bites you from behind. My day had everything, cat fight between two girls fighting over an expelled student (who seemed very amused at that situation), random maniacal laughter from my Danish teacher as she realized we haven't learned a thing during this entire year and we're about to die in the upcoming exams and finally… my mother and her boyfriend took me to the theatre where we saw a play. The main theme was death. That was a really strange day. I just saw Monty Python's Flying Circus Saturday for the first time and all I can say is: Now for something completely different! I don't know if it's just my new internet making its first bugs known or something, but no one even read the last chapter. Or the entire story for that matter. Could be ff tracking is off, you might never know. However I did get a review explaining the joke on "over 9000!", thanks! HAHA. I read DragonBall volumes 1-7, but didn't exactly get hooked and besides, even if the joke is in those volumes, my manga was Danish so… Finally today's random statistic is this: The average amount of pictures I've taken on any international vacation I've gone to is… 1400 pictures! 1402, if you want to be precise. No kidding! O_O. 7000 pictures when visiting New York last year!

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though. And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 29: Showdown.

Taking a step back for a moment, simply because of the impact those particular lines had had on Artemis, it could be interesting to see how Artemis reacted to getting told he didn't know anything about friendship more closely, as to prepare for the following scene. While the information had come at his preferred form – quick, merciless and above all true – it was hard for Artemis to accept he'd been wrong. What he knew as friendship… with Holly, with Mulch, with Foaly, with Butler, all of these were strained relationships and Artemis knew it. So he had blamed himself, as he'd always done when things weren't meticulously arranging themselves as he had planned them, he had blamed himself for the things he'd put the others through. He'd felt the stinging in his heart and this feeling might have been the closest thing to real friendship Artemis had had.

It wasn't that Artemis was stupid. It wasn't that he didn't _understand_ friendship as something valuable, it was just a matter of definition. Artemis needed a definition, but nothing could give that _exact_ definition to him. And yet Hiccup had come close… he'd said something very deep, something that just couldn't be dismissed instantly. Artemis was going to have to let go of his harboring guilt. This guilt, the feeling that came the closest to what Artemis was trying to accomplish, was a result of Artemis' over interpretations of situations. Because Artemis imagined what _he_ would feel like if he was in place of Holly, in place of Butler, in place of any of his friends and then Artemis let down that person. Artemis was thinking that if his friends could see the logical connection between Artemis failing to completely know everything that was going to happen and act accordingly and that he _should_ know everything, then his friends would blame him. While in actuality it was just human nature to fail every once in a while…

The step to counter this building guilt was a simple one for most normal people. Instead of savoring the guilt inside, waiting for a moment where it would strike Artemis' heart and make him feel sick about himself, he should lighten up. Think less. Be stupid. But here was the problem: Artemis wasn't stupid. He couldn't ever allow himself to be stupid. Artemis wasn't socially awkward or anything, he had the vocabulary of someone three times his age if anything, but using it to show good intentions wasn't part of him. The logical part of him argued that if he showed his power, then he would gain respect and since his reasoning had been that respect was a part of friendship then Artemis had left it at that.

But now Artemis was realizing the worth of friendship. He had realized he was incredibly prone to loneliness in seeing his analytical counterpart and hearing Hiccup's recounting of Simetra's words as loneliness being the biggest source of misery. Loneliness seemed to be a general factor: Hiccup had been lonely until very recently, Toothless had been a lone wolf (dragon) as well, Artemis was lonely even when he had people around him, because no one had really understood him. Except for Holly, who seemed to put up with all of his quirks, no one really had the ability to open Artemis up. Until Hiccup had spoken the exact key phrase that had done exactly that. Perhaps the Viking might not be as logical or book smart as Artemis, but he made up for it in recognizing feelings, _and_ knowing what to say when.

They all had their strong suits. Artemis was strong in his logic, his IQ couldn't be measured by a standard IQ-test and as he hadn't exactly tried a Mensa-issued-IQ-test, he knew that he was smart so he didn't need one. However, though he had taken a step into the world of actual feelings, Hiccup was far superior in identifying these kinds of things. And Toothless acted as the glue between the two extremes, with potential for dominating both fields with ease. He had access to massive brainpower which should in theory allow for a logical thought process, while also maintaining feelings through Hiccup and his bond with the Viking.

Of course all of these reactions made Artemis realize how much work it would be to actually know everything – how glad he was he'd given up on at least some of this knowledge, now focusing only on knowing things he _needed_ to know – and how extremely irritating it was that there wasn't a more suitable way of categorizing some of the more intricate puzzles of human sciences. Psychology was actually really only a way of entering beneficially into another person's life; friendship and love could never be described in a finite way using only this subject. Definitions, definitions… Friendship had now moved from being a mixture of respect and mutual benefit to an indefinable quantity in which you had to be yourself and if it worked, then it worked and if it broke, then it broke. No forcing would produce a real friendship. And as for love… that was what was interesting for the scene that was currently unfolding:

They were standing in the meeting room. Artemis' dragon self had just walked out the door after a particularly inquisitive conversation. Holly had then turned towards Artemis.

"Artemis… this has to stop." Holly looked at him defiantly, as if she wanted Artemis to disagree but when he didn't say anything she continued, "We can't… be together like that. I treasure our friendship… but you should save those feelings for another who is… your species. Take Minerva or something…"

At this Artemis asked for control over his entire body, as he needed to make sure he was sincere and serious. "Holly… I don't… know about love, and I had already dismissed my reaction as hormones or instinct. I treasure our friendship as well, though I do think we should be getting beyond you asking for help every time you contact me; couldn't you just contact me for being me? As for your argument on different species, I don't know if it would hold in a court. Fairies and human anatomy are similar… well, at least it's not a pairing of an elephant and a giraffe, that's all I'm saying. But getting back to the issue… Holly, when I saw you die… my mind snapped. You're the person who brought my life back on course and losing you a second time… and this time I didn't know if it could be reversed… I just reacted on instinct. I apologize for putting you in the uncomfortable position of seeing this as "love", but I'm afraid I'm still clueless about such things. So while I'm still deciding… and please don't bring up Minerva. I've seen her once since I returned and she seemed to have moved on just fine… geniuses and psychology, you remember … and we try to overcome the things that are damaging to ourselves as fast as possible… she seemed to be _fine_ seeing me alive as it meant she had her _rival_ back…"

"Artemis…" Holly was shocked. Yeah, she'd been turned down and it hurt… but it seemed he'd put a lot of thought into this. That did make her secretly happy. But instead she said: "You're ranting!"

"Yeah, I am. Holly… I know about the fact that you are… what, 80? … but from the sparse information I've been able to gather on love as a subject it's that it breaks barriers like none other. Both good ones and bad ones. So really the only questions should be 'Do you like me?' and 'Do I like you?'. From there any other issues should have no hold. However… I don't know the answer to either question. I don't know if what I'm feeling _is_ love… and I don't know if you like me for who I am or as a mutual beneficial relationshi…"

Holly slapped Artemis. "Don't finish that sentence, Mud Boy!" Holly looked away from Artemis before continuing: "And for your information I did like you for who you were, how could you think otherwise? You kidnapped me remember, made me think I'd betrayed my People, and yet you're still doubting why I'm calling you when I need a friendly face to cheer me up and help me with a problem? You're more clueless than I thought…" Holly shielded and vanished out the door. Leaving Artemis alone in the meeting room.

**Classy,** Toothless commented. Hiccup merely facepalmed at both Artemis' handling of the situation (even Hiccup could see that this was a bad move) and at his dragons commentary.

Artemis was frightened; had he just lost Holly? While he'd had to act a fake sort of intimidated and frightened to fool his dragon self (which was easy considering that it part of the paradox, which meant they'd done it before and therefore should be able to do it again), now Artemis was truly frightened. What had he just done? But… it was undeniable that Holly had a confusing effect on him and Artemis should have seen that she liked him. Even that thought was making his breathing faster.

But Artemis still didn't know if that characterized as love or just his hormones jumping all over the place. Why did this sort of thing have to be harder than being hit by two missiles in midair, with only a plane between the actual explosion and him? Biting his lip, realizing Holly wasn't going to come back at this point in time… Artemis made his way to dinner. He couldn't see any other option at the moment…

Neither Hiccup nor Toothless could find any way of saying something to Artemis, without being afraid of his reaction – they could see the Artemis desperation only just kept at bay, and they knew he had to work it out himself. Something he tried to do by thinking about a lot of random things…

Artemis had been a bit hungry (which was saying a lot when you were a dragon) before the fusion, but after it the hunger had been dampened. But now he was beginning to work up a hunger again. Perhaps it had something to do with metabolisms of the three of them or the stomach contents of all three being combined into energy and then transferred to just one body. Did that mean that once they defused they would be extremely weak and hungry? Artemis was trying his best not to think about Holly, but he couldn't get over his incredible stupidity. Could it be possible that his body had been through so many time streams that it was beginning to affect his intelligence? Again, with stupid facts… perhaps it was really a true study; the one that said that the higher IQ you possessed, the more antisocial you would become as a result of distance to the world. Giving up and allowing his associations to run their course through his brain, Artemis made a blank face and went into the kitchen. They ate in silence, before Artemis retreated to his room.

He had a dreamless sleep. Artemis was thankful for that. If he'd seen Holly dying or something similar… Holly's crying face… Holly's angry, disappointed, disgusted, hurt face… Unfortunately, it was a dream that Artemis was having a dreamless sleep. He just thought he had a dreamless sleep. Hiccup and Toothless were both trying to sleep as well, but having Artemis nightmares intrude all over the place made it hard to do so. It was like Artemis mindroom – not just the conscious part, but also the unconscious parts as well – overflowed into every known part of their combined mindroom. To say the least it was a trying night for all of them…

(The following morning)

Artemis woke up in bed, momentarily confused as to where he was, until he remembered the past day's events. That had been a long day. And most of it, Artemis realized, had been a Thursday. Artemis instantly decided he hated Thursdays for no other reason than the fact he'd just had a month long Thursday. No… that was a bit unscientific; why did Artemis hate Thursdays? Finally getting rid of the haze that lay over his reluctance to exit the bed, Artemis got up. Why did he hate Thursdays…?

_Artemis… are you better now?_ Hiccup cautiously asked making Artemis drop the weird subject.

Sighing, Artemis had to consent. Though it still pained him that Holly hadn't given him a chance to apologize, or even say anything, and now he didn't know where she was. "I'm ok." He said to the empty room. Artemis couldn't help but think how badly Foaly would have wanted to get his hands on these tapes; with Artemis speaking with himself as if he was having schizophrenia, dragons were always a good view booster, drama, intrigue, forbidden love (was it love?), the whole package. Artemis was becoming bitter as these thoughts passed through him but then he remembered he'd destroyed the tapes. That brought an infinitesimally small smile across Artemis lips, but he was still feeling miserable.

Artemis got up and began buttoning up his black suit again, straightening his tie. Today was the big day. Everything would come together before the next time he slept. Artemis just wished he knew where Holly was… the trial didn't seem so important anymore. Artemis was about to relinquish control to Toothless and Hiccup so they would be ready if anyone came in through the door…

However, when you were speaking about the sun, it shone. It seemed to work when you were thinking about the sun as well. The door opened. It was Holly, she was still shielded. For a moment, Artemis was as shocked as Holly seemed to be, not a sound was made, Artemis _really_ didn't think Holly would be back like that, but Artemis covered his shock with a greeting: "Ah, hey Holly." He really didn't think Holly would be back. But perhaps he could now apologize…

That was the entirely wrong move. Holly shot him down and in that moment, between unconsciousness and consciousness, Artemis only thought was: Holly had just shot him! He was doomed. Holly hated him. And then he gratefully passed into a mental shutdown. He was far away by the time his body hit the floor.

Meanwhile in another part of Manor, Holly Short was still furious. She had tried not to get upset at Artemis but him saying something like "I don't know if you like me for who I am, or as a mutually beneficial relationship…" was enough to make her blood boil. How dare he? She'd been beyond worried for him and then first he shows up saying "Goodbye…", making her worry skyrocket, then he shows up again and after spouting a bunch of extremely disconcerting facts, that story was seriously messed up, she gets dumped and told off. Holly had very nearly cried when Artemis said those words to her; it was all she could do to turn and walk away without harming him…

But Holly knew that to get through this mess, they were going to have to work together. That didn't mean she had to like it, and at least any feelings she'd had for him had been strangled. She was sure of that. Never again would she have feelings like that for Fowl…

Returning to Artemis room, Holly quietly opened the door… and for the second time in less than a day, one of her silent promises went up in flames. "Artemis!" Worry overtook her mind and Holly darted to the unconscious teen's side, calling upon her magic to heal him for whatever had hit him. It didn't take long before Artemis was groaning and slowly waking up. Holly breathed again; she hadn't realized she'd held her breath. Yeah, so much for strangled feelings…

"Artemis, what happened? Are you ok?" Holly asked as Artemis began straining himself to sit up. But upon noticing Holly, he backed off, scurrying across the floor until his back was against the wall. "… sorry…" Artemis mumbled. "…sorry, please don't shoot me again…"

Assuming a stance that was awaiting a sort of verdict, Holly was in disbelief over Artemis behavior. It was almost like… he thought _she_ had been the one who had made him pass out. "Artemis, I'm not going to hurt you… I'm just asking what happened?"

"You… you shot me! Holly, I'm sorry, I really am, I was stupid, I… I was distracted. But, I didn't… you're not going to shoot me?" Artemis asked as Holly's words really set in.

"No, silly, I was worried. I found you lying on the floor unmoving, what do you think I'm going to think about? That you said something stupid has nothing to do with if you're in danger. Artemis… we're friends, right? Not having a 'mutually beneficial relationship'." Holly nearly gagged on those words. "Now, what happened? It wasn't me who shot you… so think again. Who did it?"

That was enough for Artemis to snap into action again. "Holly! You did shoot me," Holly's brow furrowed, "only you did it eight years ago!" Holly was trying to figure out if she should settle on recognition as she remembered they were time travelling, if she should settle on a pained "I have a headache" as she remembered they were time travelling or if she should settle on a shocked "Oh yeah, we're time travelling"-look. She decided that all three were in order. "So… what the hell does that mean Artemis?" Holly felt something was going over her head.

"That means I've slept for far too long. It's almost that time… Holly, quickly I need you to find your younger self and convince her of a truce between us. Root might be there as well, see if you can convince him as well. When you deem the air safe then I will send Root and your past self to the lobby and then we can go look for the lemur…"

"Artemis, I already know where the lemur is. What, you thought I'd sit around on my ass an entire day just sulking over my friend having said something _incredibly_ stupid… hah, don't flatter yourself." Holly was trying to reenergize their friendship; couldn't Artemis at least say something smug in return, so she knew where he was.

"I never flatter myself. I don't need to. I am just _so_ awesome… Holly, seriously though, trying to get a reaction from me, eh? Let's just go already. We're wasting valuable time… time that we have already wasted before and time we shall continue to waste until the exact moment we decide to move out." Artemis smirked.

He smirked because he knew Holly hated technicalities and a time paradox was about as technical as it could get. Now… a time paradox with conditions was even more so. In this case, the fact that most of their moves were being monitored by their past selves meant that even a single mistake could prove very fatal. Artemis did not want to know what the third "warning" was, but if he remembered correctly, this was very near the final showdown. All they would have to do was, in order: Convince Young Holly and Root. Find the lemur. Mend the situation brewing in the lobby. And escape to his own time again.

Holly groaned as they moved out, prompting a response from Artemis' inner demons.

**Are you done playing games with Holly,** Toothless asked amusedly.

Artemis rolled his eyes in response. It was weird; just yesterday he'd been completely out of it about subjecting himself to a fusion. And yet it seemed adaptation was a force to be reckoned with, now he just felt a slight discomfort at knowing that Toothless _was_ going to make a remark as well as what the thought behind the remark was. Artemis knew that Toothless was just as adaptive as Artemis and felt only the same minor discomfort at the tripled knowledge. It was an intricate interchangeable game of dominoes; one thought being intercepted by another, making more dominoes fall in a different direction all at the same time, and both Artemis and Toothless had gotten the rules down rather easily by this point.

Hiccup on the other hand was not quite as adaptive as either; getting to terms with all of the knowledge Artemis had was not an easy task. He now not only _knew_ what a computer was – as in every single part and how to construct one – he also knew how to use one to its full potential. He knew… things that he should never have known. And yet Hiccup just rolled with it. Why did he just allow things to happen? Was it because it was so much easier to… sleepwalk through the surrealism of it all? Was he trying to preserve himself in between three minds, one being beyond analytical and the other being beyond craving for new experiences? (**I heard that!**)

_Artemis… if we do reach the third trial… promise me that it won't be as messed up as this one._ Hiccup almost pleaded as if it was his place to ensure them they didn't get into this again. Which it through an extremely tight loophole actually was, seeing as Simetra was Artemis in a distant alternative universe. But at the current moment Artemis merely answered: "You know I can't promise that… but we'll manage somehow."

Holly just looked weirdly at Artemis talking to himself as they continued down the hallways, looking for her younger self. As they neared a corner, Holly suddenly held up a handsign. Artemis realized this meant he had to be quiet and stand still. So he did. He wasn't really willing to test if Holly actually had been the one who shot him by pissing her off again which he would if he disregarded orders…

"Hey." Holly said towards the seemingly empty hall, but she knew, as she had the same vibration wavelength as herself, that her younger self was standing further down the hall. Young Holly reacted instantly by firing the standard salvo of two shots towards the sound. Holly threw herself onto the ground whilst shouting: "Wait, wait, wait, don't shoot, you… Check your targets before firing!"

Well, no more shooting came besides those two shots. But it wasn't because Holly had said anything. It was the meeting between the two Holly's that did so. Younger Holly's shield dropped and Root's shield dropped as well, as both stared in disbelief at what they both seemed to believe was a vision caused by their stress. Holly decided to speak up again before they got the wrong idea. But what should she say… thinking about it she suddenly got an idea…

"I think I have some explaining to do…" Her voice trailed off to allow a dramatic pause. "And it involves Artemis Fowl… like everything else does. I need you to relax and not do anything sudden, okay?" She then gestured to Artemis to come around the corner; Artemis was absolutely horrified. This wasn't thought through at all! But… he found himself moving, realizing Toothless had taken over his body, and Hiccup controlled the head. What were they doing? This left Artemis to be the one to say whatever came to mind… not that that was a lot at the moment.

Artemis noticed the reactions from the different fairies; Holly wanting to shoot him again (he wouldn't flinch! …then he realized that he could allow himself to do so as he wasn't in control of the body) and Root making her stand down – at least he had a bit of levelheadedness. The older Holly spoke quickly as to ensure her point got across: "Artemis Fowl has in the future saved the warlocks, saved the fairy race from extinction multiple times and… saved me as well from dying. If that is not enough reason for you – me – to calm down then just shoot us now!"

Artemis sunk. All or nothing. And the winner was… all! Artemis breathed a sigh of relief, as Holly and Root began moving closer, closing the distance. Mistrust was very clear in the two fairies eyes, but also confusion. So Artemis made the first move when they were standing as close as they dared to each other: "I realize this is an incredible amount of trust I have been given. I will not squander it. But I must implore you… we need to get to the entrance hall of this Manor. Something big is about to happen. And it involves you as well. If you have a single question each, we should have time, but then we must get going and you must put your faith in me." With this move, he should be safe. It was a psychological trick; to make the other appear to be in debt. As it was, Artemis could answer whatever question the two could possibly dish out as he knew their memories would be erased. And then they would _believe_ they were in debt to Artemis.

After he and Holly had answered both of their questions, Holly had dropped the perfect "debt collector" into their midst. "…Do you need more words put into it or are you convinced?"

"We're with you… for now. What is going to happen in the vestibule?" Root asked. They began to move in the direction of the lobby.

Artemis breathed in deeply. "For starters, when you get to the hall, you must find the Mud Man who is pointing a gun at _my_ younger self. From there on, things will get a bit… weirder, but you must understand that _only_ the Mud Man who is threatening my younger self is an enemy. Others, no matter how crazy they might look are friendly. Now go, we'll catch up a bit later…" Artemis broke off as the older Holly pulled him into a room. Young Holly and Root just shrugged and continued in a slow run towards the lobby.

Holly had pulled him into the random bedroom she remembered having deposited the cage with the lemur in. As much as she wanted to release the lemur, she could tell from Artemis' memories that the lemur stayed in the cage as to control it. So Holly grabbed the cage with the lemur and was about to continue pulling Artemis' sleeve as to make him follow her, when he stopped her. "Holly… what you said, back there, I… want to thank you. As I said, you're the person who saved my soul. And… well if my brain at some point rationalizes that I'm in love with you then I will ask you. I've seen how devastating… and you've seen it as well… it can be to keep it in and then never having it fulfilled. You are of course free to decline should the moment arrive, but I thought it prudent to warn you."

Holly was completely frozen. She couldn't… respond to that. What was she supposed to do? Artemis would die within a tenth of her age, and it was bad enough losing a friend let alone a… lover. Oh, Frond, what was happening to her? Why didn't Artemis realize the extreme… "situation" he was asking of her? Why was he so bold… well, that could come from that outburst he'd had when Opal had killed her she supposed. But still, so blunt! Holly opened and closed her mouth. She did so again. And finding no counterargument – for all she knew Artemis could be dismissing whatever he was feeling the next moment – she finally gave in. Silently. But Artemis seemed pleased.

Hiccup and Toothless were both very happy about the way Artemis had resolved the situation. Although it was a weird way of addressing love – rationalize it with your brain, really? – it was definitely a very Artemis way of dealing with it. As it was both could see Artemis really liked Holly, but Artemis himself was unsure how much he was _supposed_ to like Holly before it could be considered love. Hiccup suspected it would take a great deal of very drastic measures if Artemis was ever going to go about this normally. Personally, he had a huge crush on Astrid… simple as that… and the fact that it was returned even just a bit (Astrid had been shy around him… was that really Astrid-like behavior or had he induced that?) made Hiccup beyond flustered and happy. Toothless stood his ground on the subject; there was no love in dragon relationships, it was about strength, power, preserving the best genes and getting rid of the bad ones. Evolution… instincts… but now Toothless had been brought into the world of love and feelings which made his situation a bit harder than the norm. If he couldn't convince a mate that this was the way to go, then he would be shunned by everybody. Not that that would be bad, as it would keep him away from… the cubs… Toothless would never get rid of that nightmare, but still Toothless couldn't help but wonder if there was still someone out there for him… he supposed Hiccup would then be a part of that relationship too, which was a weird thought. Perhaps it would be better to focus on more pressing matters for now…

They reached the entrance hall just as his dragon self asked: "Well, yes, but where did you hear about Opal?"

To which Artemis replied coolly, as if he'd been standing there the whole time: "From me. I told them about the rebellion very briefly. And Opal Koboi is undoubtedly evil and mad."

Holly then told them of her theories on Opal; could she be the one who had sent the Mud Man assassin?

"Short, you… are right. It does make sense. Do any of you know what she is after?" Root asked.

"She is after the lemur," said a high-pitched voice. Artemis gasped. He knew what was happening but he could not stop it. But how could this happen? Wasn't time supposed to skip this part? Were they… doomed? Did they have to complete _another_ ridiculous trial or something? Opal had continued her rant, "It is the last ingredient of a magical make-up that will make me all-powerful. And you won't have any time to stop me," and as she finished, she plunged the needle with the blood leech into the younger Holly from behind. Holly Short fell to the floor as she was drained of blood from the inside in eight seconds. In four of them she was still standing, in two of them she was falling, in one of them she was dying and as the last second passed she was dead.

The older Holly instantly vanished. Artemis was so taken aback by this situation that he could not utter a sound, but Hiccup knew what to do as he switched places with Artemis and said: "A time paradox? If you kill the younger one, you will also kill the elder one. But that's im…" And then all they saw was darkness.

This wasn't any normal sort of darkness. Even bringing the sun into this darkness wouldn't light the darkness up. It was supposed to last an eternity, but none of them noticed as a single second later an explosion was sounded. Light returned… and suddenly Artemis and Holly were standing over the younger Holly and Root respectively trying to keep the two from harming Hiccup who had just fired a grenade launcher. _What… was that?_ Hiccup asked.

Artemis didn't have time for an answer. He shrugged it off as a weird time flip and began wondering what had moved their bodies from the explosion site and to Holly and Root. Someone had to control their bodies… but it was too complicated. It might as well just be that an alternate future and the real future had collided _again_ and they had fused with the personalities instantly as they were completely alike. Artemis realized he was grasping at straws – trying again to understand things that were not important – and turned his attention to the situation again.

Middle Artemis immediately dropped the weapon and apologized: "I'm sorry! I just saw a shadow… and…" His voice faltered. As Hiccup was still in control of the mouth and they had to face he was really bad at lying, Artemis quickly shifted back again from head control to speech control and said: "And because I told Hiccup where to find the weapons cache, Hiccup knew where to go in case he needed to defend himself. I just forgot to tell him about… the difference between the smaller guns and… the more volatile types of guns." Artemis chuckled to himself. The story was so ridiculous that no one could believe it, but everyone listening would lose their memory before they could actually seriously contemplate what had just happened. However then Artemis remembered what came now… and something was confusing him.

"Artemis," both the fused Artemis, Hiccup and Toothless and the dragon looked at Middle Artemis, "both of you… now that we have the lemur… what do we do?"

Artemis was conflicted. This was where he came with a reference to a movie; something so uncharacteristic about himself that Artemis was gagging inwardly. Even worse, the reference was _back to the future_ not _return to the future_! Who the hell had come up with the idea of saying that in that particular moment? The paradox itself? Did that mean that because this one sentence was said, time would be safe, even though time itself had invented that sentence? Artemis was utterly confused, but he nevertheless said the words while Hiccup did his best with the facial expressions; he wasn't quite as good as Artemis at facial expressions, but it wouldn't be needed under these circumstances: "We return… to the future!"

Yeah, there were some major facepalming done all around as well as some dumbfounded looks, but eventually Artemis convinced the group to walk with him and completely follow his orders. This was a part of the paradox that went smoothly, they entered the library, waited, moved out and after instructing the three of them in what was going to happen, they entered the time tunnel. Artemis had cast a glance down the hallway, thinking about whether or not you could _hear_ the group flying closer, but as it were not a sound had come and Artemis merely proceeded.

Artemis already knew that there would be attempts at reading his mind in the time tunnel, so the solution was incredibly simple. They made it so _no one_ was in control of the mind and mouth and instead hid their consciousnesses in an arm and both feet. An extremely uncomfortable experience but nonetheless necessary if they wanted to preserve the integrity of the time stream. From an outside perspective it appeared as though their body had fallen asleep. Holly had no such mind protection but by the time the group had realized that particular fact a perfectly functional wooden table snapped in half. A whimper of pain escaped Toothless in Hiccup's body as he hit his knee and the dragon ended up on top of Hiccup in Artemis' body. This confusion covered Holly and Artemis' escape as they left to do their individual deeds.

Artemis had thought up this plan a while ago; now that he'd had all the information he could connect the dots. Holly was to go and incapacitate Opal. Somehow this would fail and then it would be up to Artemis to outsmart the enraged Opal. Which shouldn't be very hard considering Opal's greatest weakness was her vanity, her way of thinking that she could make no mistakes. Their only hope lay in making her sorely underestimate the group… which shouldn't be very hard.

So while Holly was making her way to the control booth, Artemis was making his way to the lobby. He would be ready for Opal when she came around.

As it was, Hiccup managed to keep Opal's focus on the lemur, while Holly assaulted Opal in the control booth. Unfortunately, Opal had relocated her base to the Bentley and it was a magic clone of herself that was sitting in the control booth. It had been hard to maintain both an ultimate _Mesmer_ over Angeline Fowl and maintain a very real illusion of herself, but she had done it. She quickly put up an unbreakable barrier on the door and on the surrounding wall. Short had access to firepower after all so Opal wouldn't leave any loopholes for her to escape. And then she announced to the occupants of the meeting room that they should treasure their last few moments of living.

(Entrance Hall)

Artemis was waiting. He had no idea that Holly was locked inside the control booth. He had no idea that currently their past selves were making their way back into the past to build said past as it happened. The paradox had been preserved and Artemis, Hiccup and Toothless would have felt free in this moment, free from the paradox… were it not for the fact that Opal was coming through the front door. Her face was distorted into half madness, half glee… and half anger if that was even possible. No, it wasn't a third of each, it _was_ half of each. That was how crazy the pixie looked as she came through the very disproportionate door; she wasn't tall enough to actually make an intimidating presence from her outline alone and especially compared to the doorway she was coming through. However, it was what they knew she was capable of that was scary.

Opal walked across the hall. Her prey had chosen to stand up against her? Fine by her. She wasn't in any rush as the sound of her boots echoing over the tiles emitted a very – in her mind at least – ominous sound. They were probably pissing their pants right now!

That was the last thought that went through her as Artemis revealed a rather thin gun in his hand. It didn't seem capable of killing her at least, so Opal paid it no mind and walked onwards. Artemis fired it – Opal did wonder if the combined force of a fusion could possibly give her challenge; she'd gotten her answer: it was a resounding NO – and Opal deflected the dart without even looking. She was checking her notebook, keeping an eye on poor Holly who had completely given up on trying to get out, keeping an eye on the bodyguard and the demon who were both still in the meeting room, apparently too afraid to leave the room. She moved closer and closer to Artemis who didn't move at all smirking all the while. She'd won.

Stopping in front of the teen, she calmly asked: "Where is the lemur? Is it still with your Mother, your "I-can't-recognize-my-own-son" mother? Or do you need me to torture the answer from you? Because I will gladly grant you that wish."

Artemis had dropped the weapon. He knew that for his plan to work, he had to draw out time. He was reminded with Hiccup's attempts at holding off his Mother – he tried to control his emotions as Opal insulted her, but it was harder than he thought – and he could only hope that what he knew would happen soon, would happen faster. He checked his watch. Now this could be nitpicking, but couldn't it be that if their first punishment was too long, the second could be shortened? Artemis asked mentally, but getting no answer he was slowly beginning to dread that the starting mark for his plan would be shot to hell. Toothless and Hiccup were both ready; there was a countdown but it had no visible ending so they had to be prepared at all times.

Opal sneered: "Cat got your tongue, Mud Boy? Did you know your Father screamed as he burned in that plane crash I arranged for him? And your brothers, such a sad loss, we will _never_ miss them! Spill the beans, Fowl, or I shall turn you into your namesake!"

Artemis just stared confused at her, controlling his anger as he knew better. Did Opal just threaten to turn him into a fowl? Could she even do that…? Sighing he realized he'd pushed the silence as long as he could and he answered: "Opal… I realize you think this is your final step in becoming some sort of God…" "…Not some sort. THE _ONLY_ GOD!" "Yeah, yeah, what I was trying to get to was this question: What God could possibly predict what is going to happen to you in a moment?"

Opal stared wide-eyed at Artemis at first, then realization dawned on her – he'd just threatened her! – and she grabbed Artemis' suit screwing up the smooth edges of the suit in the process (it was becoming personal now; you might get away with attempted murder on a Fowl's family, but the suit… you DON'T touch the suit. EVER! … no really, this had gone personal a long while ago). She proceeded to taunt Artemis: "You're right, no one could predict that you would submit yourself to my great mercy. And to prove my merciful streak, I would simply throw you into this time portal…" Opal realized she could not lift Artemis, no matter how much she really wanted to and resorted to lifting the boy with her magic, hovering him off the ground (how powerful was she!) and began moving towards the vortex she had just opened.

For the first time since Opal had entered the lobby, Artemis was scared. If he was sent into that thing, everything would be lost. "Wait… I have a right to say my last words! I'll tell you where the lemur is!" At this Opal stopped her march towards Artemis' doom and smirked. "Pray tell, and I shall consider sparing you." _For five seconds then I'll continue to watch you suffer,_ Opal thought grinning to herself.

Artemis then breathed out: "The circle has been completed."

The…? Opal tried to understand the meaning of those words for a moment, decided Artemis had broken from fear and was currently rambling mad and was about to continue lifting the teen into her time portal, which would send the kid to the stone age, when suddenly something different happened. Something unexpected…

Artemis Fowl suddenly exploded.

It wasn't a heat explosion. There was no shockwave, no noisy discharge of energy. There was simply at one moment in time a frightened teen, and the next two teens and a dragon. The dragon immediately assaulted Opal, but she managed to throw it off with a lightning bolt. Thanking her quick reaction time, she expected her lightning bolt to placate the dragon, but it was merely pushed back. It then shrugged off the rest of the energy before resuming its attack. Opal began charging for another…

Hiccup moved faster than he'd ever done before; if Artemis' impulsive plan was to work they would need to be in perfect synch. While Toothless wrestled with a rapidly overpowering pixie – he had no chance against magic, but he could distract Opal for long enough for Artemis plan to come together – Hiccup and Artemis ran in a half-circle around Opal before charging the pixie. Smashing into her from behind just as she propelled Toothless into a wall, caught Opal off-guard, but as they were pushing her towards the portal, Opal realized their plan… and that was enough. Making a wave of energy to still them, Artemis and Hiccup were thrown backwards from the sudden resistance.

"You insolent twats. You think you can fool me! Cower before my power and enjoy the last seconds of your life…" Opal charged up two lightning bolts at the same time, one for each of them. Artemis realized they'd failed… Toothless was still recovering from his meeting with the wall and Hiccup and he had no way of avoiding something travelling at the speed of light. And with this thought came an incredible feeling of regret…

He would never complete his search for the absolute truth. He would never get over the guilt of putting his friends into crazy situations and having them make impossible decisions. And he would never improve, never understand the true meaning of friendship. Or other feelings for that matter. All three conscious thoughts had been failed. To speak about the unconscious ones would be adding insult to injury… That was when Opal flared up in a fiery explosion, making her completely lose focus on her magic. The lightning bolts dissipated into thin air.

Opal screamed as she tried to douse the flames… and she saw it was that huge Mud Man who had just shot her with the grenade launcher! She was furious. She'd checked the screens, they shouldn't be here… but that was when she remembered that Foaly had changed the camera screens to a loop; she'd been fooled twice in a row by the same stupid trick. And it was all that centaurs fault! Anger like she'd never felt before consumed her as she bellowed: "I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY A BUNCH OF MUD MEN!" Which was the entirely wrong thing to say as Toothless hit her from the side; she'd forgotten there was a dragon in the room. Opal was instantly consumed by the time stream.

Breathing heavily, No 1 appeared behind Butler who was standing with his "toy" looking pleased. Artemis was shocked by this display of power; the combination of their numbers had overpowered even Opal. Perhaps he was closer to friendship than originally anticipated? Had he just not appreciated the true meaning behind them? Artemis slowly got off the floor… had they done it? For a few moments he considered what they had done. Opal had been sent off to God knows where… but they hadn't beaten her. She controlled time… so why wasn't she coming back? At this thought Artemis realized that something was off… he'd met Opal before twice before in his life – one of those times she'd killed Root with a remote explosive device! – so how come he hadn't rewritten time if they really had defeated her?

What Artemis had no idea about was what Opal had done. In reality, the future had been written in the order of: Artemis outsmarts Opal but Opal gets away. Opal then frees older Opal and then both of them would be defeated by Artemis' group again, before the younger one would get wiped and sent back in time to once again preserve the time-space continuum. In this case however, Artemis had preserved the continuum, while making a change. As Opal emerged 67 million years prior to where she'd just been – shooting holes in every time rule saying you could only travel within your own time span – Opal was after a short downtime ready for returning. However… as she returned, a butterfly managed to sneak with her into the time stream. Usually the time portals were equipped with a defense mechanism so that bacteria and other microorganisms didn't sneak through and accidentally trigger a "rewrite". However as the butterfly _touched_ Opal as she stepped into the portal, time reacted for the fifth time as the other four had already been utilized… the fact that this butterfly _survived_ was a drastic change apparently.

Somehow Opal ended up only losing her immense magic powers as well as her memories of what could have been. Her luck in that regard was absurd; the time scramble as the fifth "warning" was known as could very well have ripped her apart, limb from limb. It could have ripped her mentality apart for good. It could have discharged a violent explosion, capable of tearing a thousand alternate universes apart into dust in a heartbeat. And yet because of Opal's luck, appearing in the past with no knowledge of what had just passed, this meant Artemis, Hiccup and Toothless had changed the order of what was supposed to happen.

And thusly Simetra reacted by sending him, Hiccup and Toothless through a final portal… back to the end of time. Needless to say Artemis was a bit stumped at this proceeding. Where was Holly...? But he supposed he could get some answers on the other end…

Ok, a few issues to address. I suck at love. Never experienced it, only read about it, and therefore if my description, my horrible attempts at creating drama, fails then… sorry. But seriously, it is not my main focus and I just wanted to give Artemis some more incentive for completing the third trial…

Second, my mom is a psychiatrist. As such, I know that just because you have immense knowledge of psychology does not make you the God of socializing. As it is I imagine Artemis having quite a bit of trouble socializing because of his massive intellect and his guilt-trips (which end up giving him the Atlantis Complex, oh man!). I know I've referred to Artemis friends and family before and how he's willing to do a lot for them… but the reason he's doing a lot for them should change from mutual benefit to true friendship. To do that Artemis needed a wakeup call.

Third, I have half an hour to finish chapter 30 before I have to reach a plane. If I don't get it done… which is very likely... really sorry. But the main plot of part 2 is over, the final chapter would be setting up some things about part 3 (possibly part 4, if I can get enough ideas). I know this chapter is a bit rushed but I really wanted to get this out at least...

Finally… something completely different… something a bit less serious… did you notice I said Fowl Manor had sixty-two bedrooms? The reason for this number: 6*2 = double my favorite number #1 and 6*2 = 12 or in reverse 21 = favorite number #2! Numbers rule. Hope you enjoyed part 2! Hope it wasn't complete confusion and that there were some memorable parts…

EDIT: Greetings from Athens! My feet are killing me... Seriously, you have to walk up and down stairs all the time. So seems like tracking is working again... though I can't actually see how many have watched during the past three days :-/ This is because of a faulty Greek internet-thing... Anyway, just thought I'd use my "rest day" productively... oh, and thank you serendipital for reviewing ch 1-5; very thorough! I don't think my hobbylike writing skills can quite stand against a sentence-to-sentence analysis... but hey, first story and a very experimental one at that, I'll take what I can get! I'll go into detail with your question/remark for the fifth chapter, in the next chapter... simply because it's quite a good question/remark. Finally, I've got a good idea for part 3, which will for the record be a lot less complicated than part 2 ^_^. Hope you're all still following...


	30. Motive

Taking back what I said last chapter I _do_ know what love is. It is time consuming! Which is probably a good thing when you experience it yourself, but otherwise… my mom makes me do all the dirty work to spend more time phoning home to her boyfriend. Love can also quite painful and moves from up to down in a split-second like a rollercoaster. Shining example: My mom + Irish Coffee = instant condemnation of her boyfriend. The day after = instant forgiveness. Yeah, adults are strange (I will not become one until the 26th of May; should I fear that day? Or look forward to it?).

This chapter, my brain exploded with ideas; I had to explain some things, but not all, and yet I had to keep what remained to a manageable level; there still needs to be something left, you know. I don't know if I succeeded with keeping it manageable… but *flexes fingers* it's a challenge, right? As for all the concepts… I felt philosophical! Sokrates said: "To do is to be", Plato said: "To be is to do" and Frank Sinatra said: "Do be do be do!" ^_^. Today's random statistic goes to… the classic: Breaking 3000 hits is great! Especially considering this is chapter 30! That's about a hundred hits per chapter! I've tried something new at the end of the chapter… let me know how it goes! Enjoy! More exclamation marks!

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 2: Present.

Chapter 30: Motive.

A certain air of triumph was supposed to be hanging over them.

They had done it. How they'd done it… they didn't know, but they'd done it. Simetra was clapping, making for a rather odd sound in the soundless place they were standing in. It was like one of those bad sound effects of noise in space. The sound was muffled, dull as if it wasn't real.

Not that there was a lot to celebrate. The three figures standing in the haze of a vanishing time portal were a sorry sight to behold. Hiccup's normally upbeat, optimistic, "even when the going gets tough"-attitude, had been replaced with a rather somber one. Hiccup was becoming… stoic. The irony…

For one there was the problem of ever feeling like getting home again. What could possibly feel like home again? Whenever Hiccup would look at water, simple water, he would think of it as molecules. He wouldn't know what that knowledge would ever be useful for, but nonetheless the knowledge would take up a small part of his mind. With the amount of stuff that would take up his mind, because of hundreds of these small things… Hiccup would slowly grow mad. If Artemis tidbits of random knowledge in almost all fields wouldn't finish him, the fact that they had all just turned 200+ years old as a result of absorbing Toothless memories would.

In relation to age… another thing that weighed on Hiccup was the speed with which things had happened. Some people might think five days / a month was a long time. It wasn't. Everything that had happened in these five days was more than enough to outweigh those two hundred years in different experiences. Finally was the far off thought that even if Hiccup and Toothless survived all of this, they would still be separated by time at some point. Hiccup was beginning to become scared of his own mortality, there had been repeated proof that Gods didn't exist, and everything – all he'd believed in – still seemed like free game. What would Toothless do when Hiccup was gone? Hiccup scoffed sarcastically, maybe Simetra would turn out to be nice and the two near-immortals could have some fun living until death finally claimed them both? Yeah, right…

Artemis was feeling just as bad, but for different reasons. A lot of reasons… His new suit did nothing to mask, could not ever hope to disguise that Artemis was feeling in over his head. Some things you needed time to understand. Some things you weren't meant to understand, Artemis understood that. However… this situation, from start to finish, had been a huge mix of wrongness. Nothing acted like it used to do. Artemis had no idea where to even begin… but perhaps it could be summed up to: time travel = seriously messed up. That much he'd gotten and if it stood in his power he would never think the words again. The fact that time travel was synonymous with fusions of memories and/or bodies was just adding to the charges. For a short moment Artemis actually had time to appreciate being back in his body… but then, he noticed his own state. His hair… black lumps of dirty, sticky, oily hair hang in all directions with no order… he was in desperate need of a bath. His face was dirty as well, but it was the expression that made him look sixty years older than he actually was… Artemis had a bit of an easier time dealing with his improved age, but he still couldn't consciously think about as much as Toothless; human limit vs. dragon limits, it seemed.

As for other things that were just plain wrong… Artemis remembered, all of five days ago when the first signs of… wrongness had shown up. Artemis had made a plan… it had gone wrong! Instantly! Then time and time again, every time Artemis had had a hand in a plan… everything turned to dust. Making himself out to be a chosen avatar of the one-eyed god had been a good idea… but the one slipup he'd made had been feasted upon by the Vikings instantly nullifying whatever effect Artemis had wanted to get. Only after Artemis had gone off the deep end, seen his friends who were all increasingly worried for him, had things started getting better. Until the second trial…

Wow. If there was ever such a thing as total coincidence being a life-saver… Artemis could not remember if they'd even _tried_ to make an effort of not completely messing up everything that could be messed up. Artemis definition of "normal" had been challenged more than once. Was it normal to change into a dragon? No. Not ever. Was it normal to become three persons at once? The closed ward much? Schizophrenic tendencies much? Artemis snorted and continued the train of thoughts… Was it normal to… wait a second, that plan with the missiles had worked… before sending them into nightmarish futures of course, because of, once again, time (urrg). Everything seemed to come back to a concept that humans in general did not bother to understand, because they thought they had it all mapped out, and yet time seemed to have so many layers of complexity… Artemis felt his sickening feeling for knowledge flaring up again as he thought this. Split between the decision of wanting to know more, and not wanting to know more… a difficult decision!

But Artemis wasn't just miffed at all of the impossible probabilities that everything really _had_ gone wrong with no outside influence. No, he was especially chagrined by this last battle against Opal… and his own performance… absolutely pathetic. Nothing less than pathetic… Artemis and Hiccup may not have been the most able fighters, but a good strategy should be more than making up for that. And yet, when the initial plan had failed (big surprise there!)… Toothless was the only one who had continued as if nothing had happened. Artemis had access to magic for crying out loud! And he'd just sat there, spending what could have been his last moments… regretting! Artemis wished he was kidding himself, but he wasn't… no excuse for that one. Hiccup had trusted him… they were a team… supposed to take care of and protect each other until this ordeal was over and at the first sign of trouble… complete shutdown mentally… just great!

And finally… what the [Artemis using a censored word? Oh, my] was up with the end. Was he just _trying _to traumatize his friends (whom he previously considered to be part of his mutual benefit / respect-term, more specifically known as Butler and No 1) by disappearing in front of them? Five seconds after Opal had passed through the portal, they had completed the trial. What the [once more]! What had actually happened! This was one of those things that went over Artemis' head… and he hated it! And… where was Holly? Too many things were moving over his head…

Toothless was the only one at a neutral level. While Hiccup's somewhat dark thoughts of Simetra and him spending eternity together (?) was clouding Toothless' mind black, the thought of actually having been at battle with a greater power than he alone could beat and winning felt great! He'd now gotten back his body (everything worked; so great!), he'd been up against another power-crazy female who wanted nothing more than the world at her feet and won (GREAT!) and he was alive to share these feelings, these experiences with others! Toothless sent some of these feelings at Hiccup, who seemed to lighten up a bit which made Toothless a bit more positive as well.

Hiccup could feel the sense of victory Toothless was feeling, and he reluctantly admitted that everything _had_ worked out in the end. So no harm done, right? Still… getting back to the hollow sound expanding in waves across the barren landscape: the sound was real, but Simetra was actually applauding them?

"Well, well. I suppose a 'congratulations' is in order. Though I must say it wasn't the way I imagined it would play out, it was nonetheless very entertaining. Hold your questions, Mr. Haddock, Mr. Fowl, Mr. … er, Fury," Simetra eyed them all individually as they had been about to begin asking questions, "because the 'game' has already started. Think before you speak…"

Silence fell over the location. And what a location that was Hiccup reflected, now that he wasn't in an internal scuffle over how he was going to face Berk ever again. Though he'd seen the _memory_ from Artemis, it just didn't do it justice. This place was the stuff of nightmares. No sound, no feeling, no warmth, no cold, no smell, no taste probably either. It was a dead place, in the full sense of the word. Hiccup then looked towards Artemis, who was equally silent as he stared at Simetra, and then to Toothless, who was looking back at Hiccup. Hiccup then proposed: "Artemis, Toothless, if we split up the questions between us we'll get six each; the last two could then go to whatever we need to ask afterwards…"

Artemis conceded: "Reasonable. In which case, I'll go first with a question I should have asked a long time ago. What are your motives?"

"Straight to the point, eh?" Simetra sighed. "I'll answer that question _if_ you'll start off by asking me another three questions. I will then answer yours as the fourth, deal?"

"Deal. What… wait a second, you want me to ask you what those questions are! And that would count as another question! No tricks, Simetra…"

"No, no, that wasn't the intention. Sorry. I am, ok? What I want you to ask are the following three questions: What is good? What is evil? And what is the relationship between good and evil?"

Artemis stared confused at Simetra. He was almost about to ask 'What has that got to do with anything?' when he realized that that could only be considered another question. So Artemis complied: "What is good? What is evil? And what is the relationship between good and evil?"

Simetra took a deep breath. "To make an unrealistically complex process very simple, any sentient being who is capable of judging what good and evil is gets assigned a certain amount of 'good' or 'evil'. This is of course ridiculously simplifying one of the works of art that makes me wonder if there ever was a Creator, but… you merely need to think of this quantity as something invisible, something attached to one's soul. Now alone, good is merely a quantity of 'something' that is unable to accomplish anything. The same goes for evil. What is important is the relationship between these two forces. Imagine if you will a glass vial capable of holding 100 % of good and evil combined. If you have a person, who in one moment in time has 30 % good and 70 % evil, then that person will in that situation have a 70 % chance of choosing a future other people conceive as 'evil' and 30 % choosing a future other people conceive as 'good'. Do you follow so far?"

Artemis nodded. He didn't bother to look at Hiccup or Toothless; if he understood then he would find a way to make it more understandable to the others later. Still, to think that good and evil were measureable quantities was quite a find… it could quite possibly rival the new cure for cancer: a cure for evil!

"Everything is revolved around what other people think of when they look at any given situation. An action isn't good or evil by itself, only when others judge the situation can it be considered either of the two. Now, there are three exceptions to this rule. The first exception is total neutrality. A person who has the amazingly rare 50-50 split. An equally great amount of good and evil. Basically this person has the right to _choose_, more so than any other. He or she has the ultimate knowledge of what good and evil is _because_ that person will know exactly what choice leads down what road. In this case that means this person does _not_ need another to judge his action, because this person will know what he could have done to make the action be judged as the other outcome. Do you understand?"

Artemis nodded a bit hesitantly. It seemed like a great amount of philosophy was needed to understand this concept. But Artemis followed: The neutral person could wander both paths at the same time and therefore did not need to be judged as either good or bad.

"The second exception is the person wielding the ultimate good. A nearly incomprehensible amount of good and absolutely no evil at all; the person with the relationship 100-0. Remember how I told you just a moment ago, that good alone will accomplish nothing. That wasn't exactly true, because this person… cannot be anything other than extremely evil. While this might seem like backwards thinking to most – the ultimate good being the most profound evil ever? – I assure you, it is the truth. For this example, imagine that a person with the ultimate amount of good in his heart watches another person dying. Because he holds no evil in his heart, he will not know that another's death is evil. He does not hold the power to distinguish good and evil… this makes that person incredibly dangerous. He will not realize that the destruction of the world is something to be feared… because he does not possess even an ounce of evil. He will eventually cause the destruction of the world, because of human nature. Curiosity, the need to destroy will eventually win in the end. Are you still following? I need to make sure you understand this perfectly otherwise my motive will make no sense."

Artemis nodded again. This was turning out to be quite a revelation. Good… could be considered evil. Would evil then be considered… good?

As predicted Simetra continued with evil: "The third exception is the person wielding the power of a truly demonic entity. The person with the relationship 0-100. This person… cannot be anything other than extremely evil. While this, coupled with exception two, seems like another case of backwards thinking, I assure you, it is just as true as before. Imagine again, the same situation, the evil person watching the person dying. If he does not know what good is, how is he supposed to know that he's watching an evil act being committed? Again, this man does not hold the power of recognition; he does not distinguish between good and evil. And left with human nature – mankind's potential for destruction – both exception two and three will utterly murder mankind eventually. Still there?"

Artemis understood. Nothing had really been that hard to understand; if you did not possess both then because of human nature, you turned evil in everyone else's eyes. Simple… and yet scary simple. How could it be so simple? But Artemis shut up… he was not about to ask another question if it was about to be answered.

"In actuality, this concept does not exist. No one person will ever think about his own action as being either good or evil, he will think of it as beneficial to his own continued survival. This means that if we go back to the 70-30 split: if the person made one of the evil choices, which he had 70 % chance of doing, then he would no longer have a 70 % chance of doing so, he would have 100 % in the moment he chose the action. Not only that a person's quantity of both substances changes over time; this is why it is the relationship that is the important. Toothless, for instance has huge amounts of both, but the relationship judges him that it is easier for him to perform good rather than evil. This essentially means that the only reason this concept even exists is because I exist. I can reverse time, see everything from every perspective, and thereby interfere with the natural order of things. Which brings me to my motive…" Simetra breathed deeply. He was about to say things that had only been worded once before. He thought about what he was about to reveal… He'd been asked about it so 'they' could not stop him for now. Later 'they' would punish him, but for now he had the center stage… he had control. That was at least a bit reassuring…

"I have created a nightmare. My interference with my own timeline has created an ultimate good _and_ an ultimate evil version of you, Artemis. This happened immediately after I began to use my power to escape my accursed fate in the second layer of the time hole. The other two appeared… and I was instantly swept away, like a bug against a flyswatter. I had no chance against either of them… so I made a bet, I challenged their mentality. If I could find the Artemis who could complete three trials: one set in a challenging past, on in the present whenever that might be for the Artemis in question and a challenging future, then he would be allowed to fight against these two. Until then they would have to avoid annihilating the universe, time itself, or whatever other things they would want to destroy that would be the end of humanity." Artemis, Hiccup and Toothless were stunned beyond words. Simetra continued as if he was speaking to a wall – emotionlessly.

"I succeeded in convincing them to accept the bet under certain conditions, rules, which would make me utilize their power, as I knew they would need to do something during all the time it took otherwise they would end the bet out of boredom. So I had to appear as if I was unable to give any information at all. I had to make up ridiculous punishments that would make my subjects question their sanity, or would make them otherwise suffer as much as possible. My 'help' was supposed to induce traumatic experiences, break my subjects down, and make them beg for mercy. I made it their job to always keep an eye on me, which in turn kept the balance – they had to spend every second keeping an eye on me and I… well, all of these rules could be twisted, you see, into benefits for my subjects… but however much I tried to bend the rules, all of the Artemis' died. They never trusted me… They came close, but as I told you, Artemis, only one other made it to the third stage. He was the only one I've told my motive to beside you."

Simetra continued, while Artemis, Hiccup and Toothless were getting over the first shock: "I wasn't worried for the safety of the world anymore; I was protecting it, and though a lot of Artemis' died, the two Artemis' that were forcing me to do these things were satisfied. Then everything changed as I for the first time realized I had entered a time loop… suddenly I realized I had been created by a time paradox! I was an alternate universe myself which had somehow managed to collide with the original future! How this works… I don't know. I have a memory of my life… but it was never and had never been my life! The best I could do would be to destroy myself… but I knew that this wouldn't stop the others. I had created the possibility of good and evil to exist, as a concept that could now be measured, and I had created a way for all the alternate universes to exist at the same time. They would all run parallel to each other… and even if I died I'm almost certain this trend would continue without my continued existence."

"Anyway, I then tried to find out how to work infinity as it would allow me to escape the time loop – I would be able to find the correct method of escaping the time loop. It seems… that the answer was that I had to answer a riddle. Just like you. But in the process of freeing myself and somehow dealing with… them, I've lost all my privileges. I had to break the rules… twice, giving you information without having you punished. So now, you are my last experiments. My last hope of winning this bet. My last hope of saving humanity. Not only that the situation has become more dire… with each passing second…" Simetra sank. "You see, by allowing Hiccup and Toothless in on the fun, their own versions of good and evil have joined the 'council'," Simetra made air quotes as he said this, "as if they had also made the bet all the way back in time – simply because the paradox had to survive – and they are now awaiting the outcome. I can't occupy six people the same way I could two… What I'm saying is this: Everything hinges on the fact that you survive the third trial."

Artemis was gaping. Nothing could have prepared him for that answer. In fact, Artemis even felt it was worth another question: "So you're saying we have to win the third trial _and_ beat… ourselves?"

"Yes. But not just yourselves… beings who can backhand _me_ like I was nothing. I suppose I can fill you in if you ask…"

"Yeah, yeah, who is behind you? Describe them." Artemis wanted to add a 'good enough for a question?' but then again this was a question as well. Last time, Simetra had taken his "What's" as questions… so Artemis kept those outburst to himself no matter what would be revealed. Hiccup and Toothless seemed to have caught on as well, from Artemis' memories…

"The leader behind the group is definitely _your_ ultimate good version Artemis. He calls himself Truth. Because his power… is that he cannot say anything, but the absolute truth. Worse, truth is under his command. If he says 'you do not exist' then you don't; it becomes the truth. Reality simply acts like it is this guy's personal pet. His timeline is… an interesting one. But I cannot share it with you as you have not asked about such and I cannot recommend you waste a question on any of these guy's timelines. Though they are interesting… anyway!" Simetra lifted a finger to ensure his point got across. "Not important right now!"

"The next is Artemis' evil self. He is of course the exact opposite. He calls himself Falsity. His power… is creepy. It's a sort of illusion, but it is a false illusion. What he does isn't making your mind and senses believe reality is something else. No, he makes the perception of your reality an illusion. He changes your sense of direction without it ever seeming like he's done that. And suddenly you fall over cliff because you ran right instead of left – but you felt like you were running to the left! Your vision, reality itself, even followed that you ran left… but suddenly you're dead! Another more harmless version of this trick could be that you fall because you run up into the air instead of forwards. Of course direction isn't the only thing he can change, it is just an example of what he can do with a person's perception. While illusion is exactly that, perception, this is on more than one plane. It goes down to an instinctual level…"

Hiccup sank a heavy lump in his throat. How were they ever going to beat those two alone? And there were more…? Simetra continued: "Hiccup's ultimate good side calls himself Imagination. His power supposedly lies in making imagination real. Hiccup's ultimate bad side calls himself Reality. His power supposedly lies in making reality imaginary. I don't know much about these two… other than this description of their power as they gave to me. I don't actually know what they're capable of. And as for Toothless' two sides, from good to bad, are known as Everything and Nothing. One has control over everything except nothing and the other has control over nothing but not anything else. Again I only know this description that they themselves came with…" Simetra trailed off. He could see the others were completely down in the dumps. Or was it something else…

Hiccup couldn't help but want to ask a question… but it couldn't possibly be appropriate… had Simetra eaten mushrooms? Nope, not really appropriate. As much as Toothless wanted to feel differently than Hiccup – to say that he actually understood what Simetra was babbling about – he couldn't. He felt _exactly_ the same as Simetra, only thinking something along the lines of: 'This guy seems to have gotten a high on eating his own fire!' (This was as previously described, quite painful, but some dragons had a very messed up way of getting high; they would use the pain to induce hallucinations…)

Simetra was blissfully unaware of two thirds of his experiments writing him off as 'permanently on the happy juice' and was currently thinking about how he could make it seem like it was less dreadful than it was. He then realized he _could_ still say something to help them accept that they were going to have to overcome or at least survive encounters with people who commanded truth or falseness, reality or imagination, everything and nothingness.

"Now you do have some help should you complete the third trial. I don't know if I will survive the next interlude with them all… I'm breaking rule 1 here: no compromising information… and this is the third time I've broken a rule… but if I do survive then you can consider Time on your side." Small smile. "I am your neutral timeline Artemis in case you didn't guess. Hiccup has also produced a neutral timeline and I think he'll help as well. And Toothless' neutral timeline should be there as well – I'll work on them if they need any convincing. So all you need to concentrate on now is winning the third trial. At that point in time, it will hopefully be six versus six."

Artemis felt compelled to ask another question, this was his sixth question: "You're saying that Hiccup and Toothless was brought into this… system, so… why aren't there more people that we've affected coming into this?"

"Well, remember how I told you that good and evil are subject to constant change over time? This means that the total neutrality and the two extreme ends of the scale were never supposed to exist. But because of my screw-up, they were created all nine. The only nine in existence _because_ we are currently at the end of time! Therefore no longer does time pass and the 'good-evil'-relationship doesn't either. By using the power of Truth and Falsity, the two in question even cheated Time of making a "warning" as was in the agreement of the bet. No sudden destruction was one of _their_ rules, remember? The one side effect was of course the fact that just like me, the other neutrals possess the "middle" power. So, Hiccup you seem to possess the power of Infinity and Toothless you have control over Space." Simetra answered.

Artemis brain was reeling. While he saw the system in these "powers" he couldn't understand how anything could lead to people actually getting superpowers. Artemis felt he should have asked that… but they still had two wildcard questions, he supposed. As for the system it was blunderingly simple; it took a quality from the person and expanded it to both extremes: In Artemis' case Truth and its opposite Falsity, in Hiccup's case Imagination and its opposite Reality and in Toothless' case Everything and its opposite Nothing. Artemis strived for truth, Hiccup's imagination seemed to be one of his strong suits and thinking outside of the box and Toothless had a desire to experience everything. The randomness of the concepts was baffling, but what truly intrigued Artemis were the three neutrals or the "middle" power as Simetra called it. Without time, it could not be determined whether or not something was true or false, therefore Time lay between Truth and Falsity? And using that thought then: Infinity lay between Imagination and Reality because… why? And finally, between Everything and Nothing lay a Space? Completely ridiculous. Artemis could not seriously be expected to believe that… oh, but he could! That was the truly ridiculous part…

But now it was Hiccup's turn to ask his questions. And his first was this: "Did you speak the truth when telling me about… me and Astrid?"

Artemis at this point realized he was still none the wiser as for Holly's fate, or Opal's. He silently cursed again. He was going to have to find some way of ridding him of these curses that so eagerly, willingly found their way to his mouth.

Simetra was impressed with the bravery of that question. So he supposed the truth was in order: "I _was_ telling the truth, yes. But only part of it. I said 1 out of 10000 futures, remember? But you have to remember time is infinite at its base. Therefore you sticking with Astrid is supposed to happen an infinite amount of times out of an infinite amount of possibilities."

Hiccup breathed out. He'd been right. Simetra had just messed with him at that time! But now he admitted his mistakes… perhaps he was sincere? He _had_ turned over a new leaf… was he not on mushrooms? But he still needed to check: "Next question: Are you a coward for not changing the future earlier?"

"I… suppose so. I didn't want to risk a time fracture to happen if I rewrote the future instead of changing it… and we were in the middle of a paradox. A paradox, if you didn't know is the state in which time can react to rewritings. It is a sort of term for when time is extra sensitive and… yeah, I'm a coward. No other words for it. I just didn't want time to collapse on me… and I didn't want to die…" Simetra looked thoroughly defeated at this moment. Like he wanted to shrink into nothingness and be over with it.

Hiccup continued indifferently though, trying to understand the answer. He decided to ask what was bothering him about the answer: "What the Hel is the difference between changing the future and rewriting it?"

Simetra smirked a little at this. "The future was originally just a single straight line. Everything was predetermined, because good and evil only existed the way it did… every time an alternate universe was created it would immediately be destroyed. Now a "changing" of the future revolves around not knowing how you did so… but still having changed the original outcome of the future. When time was a single straight line, it meant that time got used to having a predetermined "mold" to run through. However if you made it impossible for you to lose your leg to the huge dragon, or if you captured Opal and sent her back to her own time – wiped no less – before she could free her older self… that would be a change of the outcome without knowing what the outcome was. A rewriting is when you knowingly change the future to fit with what you want to happen. Time does not like that… at all. Which of course means that most forms of time travel will end up rewriting and not changing the future."

Hiccup now at least understood why Simetra was such a coward. Loneliness, misery and a constant fear of being squashed by his own power were probably the main causes to the fact that he had not tried to break free more energetically. But there were still some things he could ask: "How did Opal get wiped?"

"Funny story that. When she got to the prehistoric age, she made some sort of mistake. Time ended up giving her the fifth "warning" and as luck would have it, insane luck would have it, Opal managed to end up in the past with no knowledge of what happened or with any of her magic superiority." Simetra answered. These questions were easier, more factual, he decided.

"Fifth warning?"

"Ah, well, we have the time fusion, the time hole, the time loop, the time fracture and the fifth warning is the time scramble. I think Artemis convinced you there were only three, but there are actually five. Be glad you didn't get to see the fifth though, I myself haven't seen it; it's potential for destruction is greater than seeing infinity in the eyes. Opal could have had her atoms implode the different alternate universes they were sent to, or had a half decomposed arm appear instead of the Declaration of Independence – and people would treat this very ugly thing as the same symbol – but we should praise the higher force known as Unpredictability that it didn't come to that. In case you couldn't guess, Unpredictability is the stuff that keeps Good and Evil together. If anything should ever be classified as a "power of God" it would be that. Not even infinity has a say against Murphy…" Simetra snorted. The Unpredictability he was talking about was so far above Murphy that it could get… "Consider that as bonus info."

Hiccup thought shortly about something. He realized there was a misconception somewhere along what he'd just heard and what he remembered. Suddenly a light of recognition lit in his eyes and he asked his sixth and last question: "If a 'changing of the future' is supposed to be where you don't know how everything fits together and yet you still change something, how come when Holly was killed _that_ was a rewriting?"

Simetra opened his mouth to answer, but stopped mid-motion. That was a very good question. "I… I think that is the core our problems. Something seems to have generated all of our problems and it seems to have started there. I… don't know. I really don't. It must be a part of infinity."

Toothless was the next to ask his questions. But Artemis cut in first: "No, it started when I had to create the start of my own paradox. Everything has been wrong from the very start… I didn't really pay it much mind, but when you say _you_ don't know, that you aren't the cause of all of these disasters… then that means something else is at work here." Artemis looked thoughtful for a moment and then he continued. "As a way of repaying us for not knowing the answer to a question, please allow us two more questions." Artemis didn't set this proposition down as a thing to discuss.

Meanwhile Toothless nodded his head to Artemis and then began thinking about what to ask… He'd try this on first: "What do you remember of your life?" Amazingly, both Hiccup and Artemis understood Toothless as well; Artemis because of his lingual magic and Hiccup was gathering Toothless' intention through the bond. It seemed it was becoming stronger, through the recognition of their similarities and differences… and a fusion had been a way to accelerate that process to the extreme.

Simetra paused again, for the second time in a row. Sighing, as there was no way around the question, Simetra began to answer. "I _should_ not be able to remember my life, because it never was my life. It never happened… but… I can remember, and what I remember isn't pretty." Simetra then listed in a monotonous voice: "With Holly dead, I never caught a fairy. Therefore, when Opal tried to take over Haven, she nearly succeeded but through countless sacrifices Haven managed to regain control. With the revolution quelled, Haven mourned the loss of all the lost lives. While they did this, I was trying to assume control of my business empire, having no interest anymore in fairies. It had been such a wasteful project and I decided to focus on more reasonable profits. Meanwhile, my Mother went to the deep end of the closed ward and my Father died in Russia. I mourned his death and I mourned for my Mother as well. But grief could only get you so far."

"After a few years, an island of demons crashed onto Earth. They seemed to have been spread all over the timeline. This, coupled with the fact that I was one of the few privileged people who actually managed to capture a demon alive, made me able to time travel. I infused the demonic magic of someone who called himself Leon Abbott – he'd apparently been travelling before – as part of my energy program and used it to time travel backwards. The process was of course fatal, but it didn't matter at the time. However, the project didn't work as great as anticipated… I ended up in my own past or… was it? It seemed this time I was in an alternate future that I later found out was actually the original future. I was combined with you, Hiccup, and proceeded to try and save my own future, by making you follow my own past into the time hole that was created from subsequent time endeavors. This created the start of loop… and yet it didn't, because only if I was the one who could send you into this trial, could the original future – you, Artemis – have been turning on the computer that set this entire thing in motion. It's basically a huge paradox. My life never actually existed. I hope that answer was enough for now."

Toothless accepted the answer, it was a bit short but it would work for now. "Do you regret any of what you've done?"

"Only my own stupidity in creating entities of greater power than this world could contain. If only I had this power… it would be great. One of the things that comes with neutrality is my acceptance of myself. I want this power because it aids me in my search for truth… but at the same time I loathe that it might have created the beginning of Ragnarok." At this Hiccup gasped, so Simetra clarified: "Metaphorically speaking. Ragnarok does not exist. The end of the universe probably does though."

Toothless nodded. "Why do you call yourself Simetra, when you are Artemis?"

Simetra very nearly exploded, but kept it contained. "Because at the time of… me getting served by those two… they didn't call themselves Truth or Falsity. They were both Artemis and I despise myself for knowing that they both live under my name… therefore to take distance to my name I called myself the opposite of Artemis, Simetra. I at first tried to scramble the letters into Ortiam, but thought it sounded better with Simetra as that is a complete reversal of everything the name Artemis stands for to me. You don't know how it felt to receive freedom after a time period of inconceivable lengths and then thinking you had the power to actually do something, but just as this thought finishes you immediately get enslaved again. It is… a source of rage for me. Please don't call me Artemis." While at first Simetra's limbs had been twitching a bit, now he again seemed defeated.

Toothless accepted the answer, racking his brain for another question, one they hadn't asked yet. Then he got an idea: "You said that you will most likely be dead by the time, we complete the third trial. Can't you just use your power to escape past your death?"

Simetra smiled weakly. "No. Because Truth said I only have enough power to call you back here. And it was true. I have no more power than any of you now. But I still hold control over Time, I just don't feel miserable at all. It's a very weird feeling, to be stripped of one's misery. Pleasant, but weird. In this case, it seems I should have kept the misery to actually help you, but Truth is true. Always."

"So, you can't help us in the third trial?"

"No. I can't. You're on your own." Simetra answered.

What was to be the final question from Toothless? It was this: "What does the third trial consist of?" Toothless deliberately asked like this as to not first politely inquire about if he knew what the third trial was. Now if Simetra knew what it was, he could still help them by telling them the answer, and if he didn't then maybe they could get two more questions?

"It is an impossible future, or it is supposed to be," Simetra answered cryptically.

When no more of an answer came, Artemis turned to the others. "We have three questions left, but… is it ok if I ask them all?"

Hiccup said: "If they are relevant then go ahead. I can't think of anything right now though… so just do it." Toothless snorted in agreement as well. Artemis had some good reflections and he knew how to formulate questions…

Artemis then turned and asked the burning question, that Toothless and Hiccup had kept silent before: "Why should we believe anything you've just said?" _Do you have any idea how messed up you make everything sound like?_

Simetra just coldly stared at him. Then he sighed: "Because you have in your hands, my life. I believe I said I have no power left at all to defend myself with. You could get up and murder me in cold blood if you so wanted. If I was not speaking the truth, why would I tell you this?"

Artemis could think of a number of reasons why they still shouldn't trust him… but there was that thing about how much he'd helped them get through all of the impossible loopholes during the trial… so Artemis supposed he could give him a chance. Artemis then asked his penultimate question: "Have you got any advice for us, for the third trial?"

Simetra made his last smirk. "I am not allowed to answer any of those kinds of questions… but I can tell you that this bet is set up to make you fail. If not during the first then during the second and if not during the second then _definitely_ during this last trial. Think about it: It starts in the past, giving you the unfair advantage of a general knowledge that no one else could match in that time. Then that advantage gets evened out during the second trial, in the present… but the third is supposed to handicap you, by sending you to the future. And as I said… this future… is harder than what it seems to be. But you'll probably figure that out… at least I hope so… hope is a strange thing is it not?"

Hiccup did feel a sting of pity at this sentence. Simetra knew he was going to… expire, and so he gave them everything he could. He _was_ sincere, Hiccup realized. This nearly made up for his streak of bad-mouthing his friends… at least he'd had a reason for doing so – he had to keep his role. "Hope grows even in darkness, especially in darkness. Don't give up hope, Si-… Artemis. Not even you deserve that…" Hiccup said.

Artemis stated: "You're not going to die. Truth and Falsity needs Time to function. They might strip you of your power, but you are definitely not going to be killed. You are too valuable for that… not even they have absolute certainty that by killing you they don't destroy themselves. If they knew they would have done so when you proposed the bet…"

Artemis could now ask the one about Holly… but he figured that if he didn't know her fate he would be more inclined to finish this last trial faster and more efficiently. So as much as he felt that sting in his heart… he asked his final question, and it was not about Holly: "How did you all come around to get these "powers"?"

Simetra had no more power for smiling, he was fading into the mist. Darkness was beginning to cover what had earlier just been a cloudy day. "I think I _am_ dying. Or at least going for a rest…" Then he began his answer as the it got darker and darker… "We got these powers as a result of Unpredictability. Or to be more specific… I could explain Truth's timeline. He gets born… with the 100-0 split and then every time he makes a choice, once for every single _unit of time_, the choice ends up as he has predicted which means he stays "good". And he begins believing in his ability and suddenly he has this "power". Actually he was just extremely lucky every time he said something. Lots of other futures happened where he failed to make something happen… but this one time, it worked. This one intricate snake of a timeline succeeded and brought him to the end of time, where his power stayed permanent. And thus, Artemis' ultra-good timeline was a reality. Of course Falsity, is the exact opposite… everything that could go wrong without him dying, did go wrong. And finally when something works, it is his ability to tell lies that win through. Now, he tells lies to the very perceptions of people…" Darkness covered everything like a glove; Simetra was gone.

_Please… win…_

Artemis was trying to cope with all of the new information… but though it was a lot it seemed new questions had taken the place of the old ones. Artemis tried to focus… he was ready for absolutely anything that would greet them in this "future" that they were about to meet. _It is supposed to be impossible… but only _supposed _to be… Simetra managed to sneak in his advice!_ Artemis steeled himself…

On the other end of the darkness, the three materialized in a courtyard. It seemed to be at the end of the day, the sun was still up though, but it was on the retreat. That seemed perfectly normal…

Maybe it was the clichéd flying car(s; in plural, now that Artemis noticed) that did the trick, but Artemis brain overloaded at the same time Hiccup's did. Toothless just stared at everything trying to suck in every detail… They were standing in a courtyard formed in a quadratic fashion. The front side, the side, he, Hiccup and Toothless had been facing when they'd appeared, was dominated by an incredibly moving scene; they were standing on a mountainous slide facing over an unpredictable, but gentle ocean. Far away, as far as the eye could see, with 1 kilometer intervals huge apartment complexes formed in the fashion of a blade reaching towards the sky, all of them being completely identical, stood on lesser islands that only just had the foundation for such monumental buildings. If you would try to complete the topography of the area, you would have a seemingly infinite amount of small islands, all in the same mathematically calculated distance to each other. All of these buildings were connected by a network of trains, all of which ran on the ocean: the rails lay just underneath the waves of the sea and sometimes parts of these rails emerged briefly before being swallowed again. Not that the trains saw a lot of use…

The air was swarming with activity, the flying cars rapidly buzzing around. It wasn't that they made a lot of noise, it was that there were hundreds of thousands of these cars, being used. A train honked the relative "silence", the sound seemed to set off a whole new part of the "city". What actually defined the "city" as a "city"? All of those apartment complexes, who stood at nearly a kilometer in height each, could be considered cities, and yet none of them could as there was an equal distance between them and they all seemed interconnected. It seemed like the world had turned into one huge city!

But behind them and on the remaining two sides of the courtyard lay a similarly baffling sight… it was undoubtedly Fowl Manor. The entire structure had changed drastically though. While the lobby and the driveway was the same (Artemis realized this courtyard was actually a modified version of his driveway!) four sections, formed as a Greek temple, an Egyptian pyramid, an ancient Middle Age castle and a futuristic looking lightning rod tower, protruded from the entrance hall and made the whole thing look like a deformed flower, if you were privileged enough to look at it from above. The order of these four sections was listed starting from the Northeast section and moving in a clockwise direction. Therefore the pyramid and the castle were on the group's right and left respectively, when they were facing the improved Manor.

It seemed the bad habit of Holly's was contagious; Artemis had to break his silent promise of being ready for anything as he took in the new surroundings… he was not ready for Paradise itself!

Hiccup had gone blank. Which was quite a bliss, no longer thoughts of home plagued him… this was something big!

Toothless smelled adventure…

And so do I. So, while part 2 focused on some of the more supernatural elements that was a lot of fun to describe, I think it's time to focus on the adventure part. I'm keeping it simple, while still keeping it interesting. It's a balancing act! Breathe in… breathe out… relax… oh, whatever. I almost can't wait to write the next chapter… but then I think about all the stuff I still need to decide when we get to the latter parts of part 3 and I think… maybe I need to think some more. But the idea is there! And it should be good! There will be some supernatural elements as well as some bullshit future science. There will be an official warning for the phony science and I'm trying to keep it within reason, but I've got some pretty spectacular stuff planned (or I hope so!). As for the superpowers… I like to give generous superpowers to people… I do… but I think it is far more interesting to find the weaknesses of such superpowers and revel in the moment where the superpowered person realized '****, I am not God! WHYYYYYY?' We all know _that_ moment. Well, apparently six moments of those are coming up. I've got one planned in my head, the rest were all impulsive, to make the task seem more insurmountable. As said… it's a challenge! Well, for now focusing on part 3 which is the end of the loose ends. (Poetic…)

And now for my first ever omake!

Omake 1: Toothless.

A young man was making his way up towards him and Artemis had nowhere to hide. He quickly assumed a stance that looked neutral and prepared to run or defend himself, if that was going to be necessary. As the teenager came closer, he spotted Artemis. The reaction from the teen was pure astonishment, and he nearly dropped the barrel of fish he had been carrying.

Artemis didn't know how to start the conversation, so he waited for the other part to say something. When the conversation started, the stranger's voice sounded to have overcome the initial shock, and the boy asked: "Who are you?"

Artemis frowned; something was wrong. He just couldn't place what it was… "Uhh, Artemis Fowl the Second?" Artemis ventured.

Hiccup came closer cautiously, the stranger that had appeared was unlike anything he'd ever seen. He was about to study the stranger closer – he'd noted his weird black clothes, his different colored eyes from a distance, but some things could only be seen when you came a bit closer – when suddenly the stranger flinched.

Artemis had connected the dots. As Hiccup opened his mouth, Artemis stepped a few steps backwards. Artemis was horrified; so much so that he didn't hear the other introduce himself as "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III." Artemis just stared at… the teeth. Or rather the lack of teeth.

Hiccup didn't know what was wrong until he saw Artemis' teeth. Shiny. White. Teeth. Not completely destroyed by bacteria that Hiccup didn't even know what was. Artemis had perfect teeth!

Artemis took another step back, frightened of the horrible image he'd just been granted. Black teeth, completely rotten to the core. Some of them weren't there anymore and the infection had spread into the gums… And then Artemis met resistance behind him as he continued to backtrack. He turned around…

Artemis found himself standing face to face with a man nearly as big as Butler. But that was unimportant: the teeth…! Artemis stepped sideways and backwards in horror; he would never eat anything candy-related again… as long as this nightmare would end…

Stoick looked at the boy and was instantly amazed. Any form of suspicion was gone; here was a chosen one of the Gods! He had teeth… Stoick's own had degraded to a mass that could no longer be defined by mere words… but this kid had teeth! TEETH! Stoick moved towards Artemis, but suddenly…

Artemis heart lurched into his throat as his body realized what was happening. Artemis had just stepped over the edge of the cliff in pure terror… and as Artemis plummeted to his death the paradox unraveled and the universe righted itself. Artemis wish was granted, the horrible nightmare averted…

Somewhere among the drifting clouds of possible futures a memory formerly known as Simetra scowled. What the hell had happened? But then his mind drifted into the realm beyond and the ironic answer never reached the memory. _Toothless Vikings had just literally scared Artemis Fowl to death…_

I know, I know… Vikings knew some things about brushing their teeth… but the image got stuck in my head ^_^! The question is… what did they use? Toothpaste definitely wasn't invented at that time… did they use mead? Anyway, let me know if I should continue the trend (omakes) for the next chapters… and finally I think I'm going to take a few days off, enjoy the last part of my vacation… and think through the last parts of part 3…

Oh, and the remark by serendipital: You saw! Damn, hoped I could keep the secret a bit longer… so yeah, Artemis _doesn't_ feel sick when entering another house without invitation… why is that… Well, the answer is that I thought up parts 1-3 in broad general strokes… and then I left a few hints about all the things that were wrong, changed. Artemis has also noticed… but he hasn't put any real thought into it. But you saw! All I can say is: The meaning will come with 42… ! (which is a cryptic teaser for chapter 42! ^_^!) Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed!

Longest chapter, haha: 9700 words!


	31. Utopia

How to express pain? Well, I could paint a picture of Nagato (Pain, get it?), write a story on torture of minors (something not even _my_ sick mind could do)… or get backstabbed by my own parents… Sorry if I'm grumbling, it's just taking something out of me (my innocence, for instance) that my mom and dad collaborated and banned me from any and all contact with a computer for three straight weeks – all because of some final exams, who'll probably be incredibly important later on in my life… ok, so maybe it was a good reason, but still: I had this chapter written out _before_ the ban, but didn't even get to post it! O_O! What… the… hell… why? "Parents" seems to be the simple answer!

Meanwhile, my life has been kind of sucky (I was positively slaughtered by assignments – because, oooh, it's not enough with _just_ final exams, no, you _need_ to turn in _every single missed assignment_ as well. Which was six assignments… (just kidding, it was only three, but I would have liked it to be six; it would have been a good omen) but going on to a positive note: It's my birthday today. 26/5! (By the way: 26 – 5 = 21) YAY ME! I'm eighteen! (And for the record: 18 = 1+8 = 9 which is six turned upside down!). ATLANTIS COMPLEX PROGRESSING!

Random statistic for the day: I found this particular piece of info about five days ago (… not six. *sniffles*). It made me kind of ecstatic (Ok seriously, I'm telling you, my Atlantis Complex is progressing at a rapid rate; perhaps I should begin counting words in my sentences?) but it is said that the weight of the human soul is 21 g. 21!

And finally I think I know how addicted I am to computers now… three weeks without one does that to you! ABSTINENCES! And a review resonse at the end, for good measure: Well, I finally found out that Hiccup's mom apparently is still alive... huh, out on a raid or something? Who'd have guessed? Not me, haven't read the books still! And I'm glad at least one person liked the omake, there is another one thrown in at the end! Should explain something as well! More exclamation marks needed! Heh...

And for the first time ever, I realize I may have to put up a WARNING: Bullshit science! WARNING: Bullshit science! This chapter contains it, the next one, and the next and so on.

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though :-). And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 3: Future.

Chapter 31: Utopia.

"Yo! Is that a dragon?"

Artemis turned around again at the sound of the voice. Seeing Fowl Manor redecorated like this had taken all of his attention, but now he noticed the humming sound behind him… and true to Artemis' guess, one of the flying cars were floating just half a meter over the courtyard. It didn't seem to be using expulsion of air to fly as none of the gravel of the courtyard was being sprayed all over the place. Actually it didn't sound like it was running on gas even… The car itself wasn't really a design masterpiece; it looked like it was built for practicality, not showing off its curves. It was, however, multi-colored – red, blue, yellow, green, black, white and more colors making it look like a painter's palette.

But it was the driver that gave this car a specific personality. As the car slowly hovered closer to the ground before turning off, Artemis got a good five-second look at the driver. If the bright multi-colored car had anything to say, Artemis would have guessed he was about to face a teenager or a young adult wearing just as brightly colored clothes… a T-shirt (possibly in some ghastly pastel green) or maybe even wearing… jeans! But this guess was as far off the mark as could be…

It was only because the voice was male that Artemis could even assign a gender to the man standing now across from the group. He was wearing a mask: An elliptical mask almost covering his face, save for the last 10 % of the ellipse, which had been cut off to allow for the mouth to be seen. From this sparse look of the man's face, Artemis could see the man was white and his facial features seemed to be a bit on the rough side. It wasn't a round face, it was more sharply edged. The mask itself was a screaming, blinding white, with a single dot placed in the direct center of the ellipse.

The man was wearing a cloak, a white one, which covered his precise body structure, but from what Artemis could tell the man was rather lean. He didn't look very muscular, as could be seen by the hand he was now stretching out towards Hiccup.

Hiccup looked at the hand. What was the guy waiting for? Then Hiccup remembered: This was the gesture of meeting a stranger, it was an approval of the meeting. Hiccup hadn't had the chance to do this a lot… he'd been rather alone and thus had not had a chance to even try this gesture. But Hiccup cautiously mirrored the man, outstretching his hand in front of his abdomen… and as soon as he did, the man grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Hiccup returned the squeeze. No one said anything while the man continuously squeezed Hiccup's hand, leading it up and down as he shook it. It was an exaggerated movement. Finally Hiccup decided to end the handshake and as soon as he did, the man turned to Artemis grasping his hand quickly, repeating the ritual before finally turning to Toothless. Not one word was spoken as if it was a troublesome formality the man had had to get out of the way before turning his attention to the real prize.

"Wow." The man finally broke the silence. "I didn't know holograms could be this real!" The man began circling Toothless, studying "the hologram". The man was mumbling, undoubtedly extremely interested in what he was seeing, so much that he no longer even noticed the two people he'd just greeted. Toothless, meanwhile, decided to prove the man's theory on "holograms" wrong and tried to jump on top of him.

Artemis expected the man to be caught off guard; he had a mask with no eyeholes and he thought this was a hologram, for crying out loud, but the man once again surprised Artemis. Sidestepping the impending impact with minimal effort, the man could almost be expected to yell an "Olé" before bowing to his audience. But he didn't yell "Olé", he had no other audience than Artemis and Hiccup and the only thing remotely relating the man with bullfighting could be his cloak that was flapping weakly in the breeze, as if provoking Toothless to try again.

Toothless actually _was_ about to try again, this guy was a good challenge, when the man held up his hands in a defensive position and said: "No more. No more. I give up. I was only kidding; no one has seen holograms for the last, what 700 years? I knew this was the real deal, when I saw the earth shifting underneath you, my draconic pal. So tell me, who are you?" The man turned his attention to the entire group now.

Hiccup was stumped. "How did you see that through your mask?"

The man laughed shortly. "Well, you must not be from around here. This mask is see-through for me, and only people I trust – that is, people who wear the same type of mask as me – can see my real face. Oh, but where are my manners, when asking for your identity I should first reveal mine own: I am… Period. But most people call me Dot."

For a moment Artemis wanted to facepalm. He didn't think it could be possible to be named something stupider than Hiccup… but then the urge vanished. They _were _in the future after all. People could have had the most stupid names and it could be perfectly normal in this world. So Artemis stepped forward: "Artemis Fowl the Second…"

Dot froze. "The… the Second? But… you… you should be gone! Dead, like, a thousand years ago! If you speak the truth – Zeus, almighty, you are! – then I'm… your grand-grand-grand- grand-something-something-…something more-child! WOW!" Dot turned to Hiccup. "And then you're…" His voice faltered. "Who are you then?"

"Uhmm, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third." Hiccup ventured.

Dot began scratching his mask absentmindedly. "Nope, doesn't ring a bell. Sorry. But, hey, if you're a friend of my ancestor, you're a friend of mine. Come in, enter my family's humble abode… did that sound too formal. Anyway, it might be a bit flashy right now…" Dot produced a remote control from his cloak, "But this is just… an appearance. Well, I have to keep a bit of publicity around as I'm an archaeologist. So having a home with these molecular constructs keeps it flashy, while telling people that I'm not currently home. However when I am home," Dot pressed the single button that was on the remote, "the Manor looks like this."

It took about thirty seconds for the pyramid to collapse in on itself, the castle to crumble into dust, the Greek temple to dissolve into nothing and the lightning rod tower to sink into the ground, but then only the familiar façade of Fowl Manor was left. Well… almost. The Manor no longer looked like something from the twentieth century, it had gotten a truly clichéd (or maybe this was actually truly original; Artemis couldn't decide) futuristic metallic look. But generally, the outline of the Manor was the same, it was only the material that was different. Dot went up to the front door and a keypad emerged from the wall. Dot did something with it, that neither Artemis, Hiccup nor Toothless could see and then suddenly a small door opened in the wall – about five meters to the left of the front door.

"Fake front door," Dot said and pointed to what Artemis had thought was the front door, "keeps unwanted company away. Come on in!" Dot vanished through the hole in the wall.

Artemis looked at Hiccup and Toothless. "Should we… go in?" He still had in mind the warnings Simetra had given them. "It's supposed to be impossible" and "It's harder than it looks." And there was also something else… but Artemis couldn't really place a finger on what it was. The atmosphere was just so… idyllic. Artemis returned to the first thought that had passed through his mind: Was this truly Paradise? Why had he thought that? Biting his lip, Artemis waited for the other's judgment – maybe they'd seen something he hadn't.

"Well, I can't see anything wrong with what he's done so far… I think we should give it a shot. Maybe we could even ask him to help us? I mean, he's way more into this world than we are, right?" Hiccup said slowly. Trust Hiccup to be trusting.

"Supposedly…" Artemis could feel impatience wearing him down. They _were_ getting nowhere. And they _did_ need some sort of information outlet… "…fine, we'll give him a chance." Artemis was wondering if the man really was his grand-grand-something, and what those words actually meant. Dot _was_ human, right? Did that mean… that Artemis would never… get Holly? Or was Holly… dead… or gone? Sinking heavily, Artemis remembered this could be an alternate future. Sighing with relief that he didn't have to think about this anymore, Artemis entered the small door that had opened in the wall.

The group entered into a small room. For a moment the room looked like a room to place overcoats and shoes and the like… but then the room melted away into a new room covered with identical white tiles. The room was cubic. No exit. Artemis immediately stopped, turned and darted for the exit as he realized this, but Hiccup and Toothless had already entered the room and the door slammed shut. It was a trap!

A voice came from an unseen place: "Stand by for…" The computer began garbling. "BshaikfAsges… Dzzz… 3… 2… 1…"

A bright flash exploded through the room. Artemis tried to cover his eyes, but it seemed the light emerged from the air molecules themselves. Nothing didn't get flash burned or whatever had happened to them. Nothing escaped… but… they were… not dead? Artemis noticed he wasn't dead. As he did so a door slid open across from where they'd entered. Dot showed himself in the doorway. "Well, sorry about that. You were smelly, so I ordered the computer to give you a bath. But judging from your reactions, I take it you have not experienced a bath like this so maybe I should have warned you?"

Hiccup moved dazedly, but angrily towards Artemis' successor. He was still a bit blinded by the light flash and he was about to assault the man verbally… but then he noticed the man was right. They didn't smell like… like they hadn't been in a bath for a month anymore. Even Toothless seemed freaked out at this fact – after all smell was another part of one's identity – but the dragon quickly came to terms with the fact that nothing else had changed. Hiccup still felt like he had to at least say something – Dot couldn't just _do_ this – but he settled with a vague "Just don't do that again."

Artemis quickly smelled himself. He was nearly odorless; had the bacteria on his body just been cooked? Was such a thing even… _a thousand years_… yeah, it was possible. And Artemis speculated no further about it. He would have to relax a bit, otherwise he would wear himself down with suspicion, but for now it was time to see what Dot wanted them to see. Artemis still didn't trust the guy… if it was possible to cook off specific bacteria, then there would most likely be a way of killing people completely in the same way. And that was a disturbing thought… Dot was controlling their fate. Artemis shuddered at the mentioning of Fate, but decided now wasn't the time to contemplate such things.

The group entered into a huge hall. For lack of a better word, it looked like a throne room. In actuality it was a place for dining – a long table stood in the middle of the room – but the black and white drapes that hung from the ceiling made the room seem… odd. Four torches lit the room from each corner, together with a massive chandelier made of a white material – possibly white gold. On the other side of the table was the true reason this room seemed like a throne room. A slant of the room led up to a pedestal upon which was a black mask. The entire wall behind the mask was a massive mosaic of a dragon fighting against two faceless humans on top of a collapsing bridge. If nothing else, Artemis wondered if Tolkien's works had survived: If you switched out the dragon with the Balrog, and the two faceless humans with an old man wearing a wizard's hat, you'd have almost the exact same scene as the battle in the Mines of Moria.

"What is the mask for?" Artemis then asked.

Dot's body language indicated he was smiling, as he turned around and began walking backwards while explaining: "That's your mask! Artemis Fowl the Second, inventor of the masks. The invention that has killed war. Murdered cruelty. It has nearly solved all of mankind's problems and has allowed us to focus on prosperity. Well, your other inventions were cool as well, but by far the coolest is the masks. Not only do they hide one's privacy, they work as a complete encyclopedia for all knowledge that mankind in general knows. It's like… a network of knowledge. Everyone knows everything everyone else knows. You see, you decoded the language of the brain and then began selling these masks and soon everyone used it. Because the masks react using their own AI they automatically give information on all the things that it deems the most prioritized. With this no one could wage war on one another because the masks would instantly reveal what the other would do. No one is cruel as the person being cruel to the other knows what the other is going through, almost no one is criminal anymore, only kleptomaniacs still steal, our world is at peace! Your ultimate goal was always to kill human nature, the destructive part of it, and you did succeed… only you died! You died before you got to see the fruits of your hard work… but now you have a second chance? Is that why you're here? Did you invent a time travelling machine or something?"

Dot was walking them through an almost hidden entrance a hallway (one of the white drapes was hanging in front of it) and he was walking backwards the entire time not even needing to look where he was walking. Artemis found his own invention (seriously?) deeply disturbing. The brain's language had been decoded? Everyone knew everything all the time, as they'd done when they were fused? Where was the individuality in that? But… thinking on it some more… if it meant that war would be unable to happen again… if it meant that evil had been wiped off the face of the Earth… would his "past way of thinking", his "past morals compared to this future", would they be grounded in reason? Could he actually say he understood the thought process of what he would go through to get to a point where he would invent such a thing? No. And that was why Artemis kept his mouth shut. Well, at least until another question demanded an answer: "You could say that… hmm, what was the mosaic depicting?"

Dot stopped walking. "I… I don't know. The knowledge about that particular decoration lies in the black mask, but you built your own mask with a limiter so no one could see what was going on inside _your_ head. We have not tested the mask out of fear of some of your… antics. You know… the booby-traps, the hidden explosives, the mentality breakers… and so on. Do I take it that you are actually from _before_ the invention of the masks?"

Oh, yes. Artemis could now see the thought process. He'd been wanting to give himself an advantage; everyone else might have access to all knowledge shared. But Artemis would have even more, as he could access both the database and his _own_ personal knowledge. Now it made sense… "Yeah, I am from before…" This answer seemed to satisfy Dot and it was also the most believable to convey for Artemis, as he had no clue that he'd even invented something like this. Artemis was a bit unsettled on how easy Dot was taking the 'time travel' business… but more pressing thoughts needed reflection and Artemis would need peace and quiet for such matters. So he didn't press into the seeming indifference of their host.

Dot started walking forwards again and soon he was leading them into the room that used to hold Artemis' study. Now, it was a barracks. Artemis thought he'd never see the day when his house would have a barracks. Butler had always wanted one… but Artemis could not stand them. It was just… a minimalistic, "not really saying anything" way of bunking a lot of people together. Artemis had always said that they had enough room to house an army in separate bedrooms, so why bother building a room which sole purpose was to provide a bed for extremely many whilst using as little room as possible.

"Please say, I did not build this…" Artemis said almost in fear.

Dot laughed. He then lifted a finger as to say "check this out" before saying: "Period, command: release." The room instantly let go of the illusion (but it wasn't holographic, Hiccup realized, it was changing the structure of the molecules in the room… Gods, he would never fit in with Berkians ever again. How would Astrid react to him…). It was a library. A secret library.

Artemis smiled. Dot turned to Artemis and said: "If you want knowledge the old fashioned way – the masks do take quite a bit of time to manufacture, so books are still used a bit today – you can get it here. And, err, Hiccup, was it? You can follow me. The dragon can go do whatever it usually d-…"

"… His name is Toothless." Hiccup said scowling, with a slight edge to his voice.

"What?" Dot asked.

"His name is Toothless." Hiccup said again with a little more force. But Dot didn't seem to mind the outburst…

"Ahh, clever. Yes, I noticed he had no teeth, but to name him after this trait… could be symbolic almost… a friendly dragon… one without teeth…" Dot continued to mumble and left the room, expecting Hiccup and Toothless to follow him. Hiccup was still a bit on edge, but Toothless nudged him that they should probably follow Dot, as he seemed to be otherwise lost in his own world. That and he probably knew what was going on.

Artemis turned to the first bookcase and studied the titles. _2100-2110 New discoveries_, one said. It was a seriously old book, looking like it could crumble any moment. That particular series of books continued all the way up to _2670-2680 New discoveries_ – an absolutely massive book containing 3000 pages of science – by which time the back of the book informed the reader that it was no longer necessary with books as everyone could just look it up through their masks. The next shelf held _History of 2050 – 2100_ and so on. And the next shelf held some books on Astronomy. A book on Archaeology. A book on Mathematics – Artemis particularly eyed the subtitle (_the solution of the Hilbert Challenge_). Artemis felt his addiction to new knowledge beginning to stir inside him. But he held his curiosity in check, as Artemis knew that if he was to even hope to break his own helplessness in a future world the best place to start… would be History. He could always get to the other subjects later… and even later all the questions that were piling up…

For now though Artemis really _was_ in his own personal Utopia. His own personal Paradise. But how he'd discerned that from a single glance at the strange new world around him, Artemis couldn't say. And there would be better times to think such things through…

Meanwhile, Hiccup and Toothless had caught up with Dot. Now that Artemis wasn't there Hiccup didn't feel as embarrassed asking: "Uh, why is your name Period?"

Dot snapped out of his mumblings about dragons – he seemed to have had a conversation with himself, but Hiccup guessed that he could just as well have been conversing with the entire world through the mask – and turned to Hiccup. He was smiling. "Well, if I introduce you to my family you might just get the answer."

Soon they were back in the front hall / dining hall / throne room and Hiccup saw that they were not alone.

Five others had appeared in the room. They were standing on a line, as if waiting for Dot, Hiccup and Toothless to get back. And this was the slightly creepy part: they all wore the exact same outfit as Dot. They all seemed to have the same body mass as Dot. In fact, Hiccup would have believed it, if Dot said that these were his clones, if not for the fact that their masks were all different. One had lines for eyes, one had dots for eyes, and one had a completely blank, white mask.

The one with the blank, white mask came over and started off with a bow. "I am Space. As in the space between words. I hold the least amount of influence in our family as I am the oldest and therefore the one most subjected to "old ways of thinking". I know you asked the question just before why Period is named as he is… this is your answer. Period holds the greatest influence as he is the youngest and therefore holds the "newest way of thinking". As for the names: A space takes almost no time to get past if you are reading out loud, however a period takes the longest time to get past. I hope we can assist you all in reaching your goal."

Hiccup could see that Space also had a pale white skin color, like Dot, and his voice gave him away as male. It was clear to see that the man was a bit up in his age, but that was the only difference between Dot and Space: While Dot had a young mouth and chin, Space had an older mouth and chin. And yet they were both the same height…? And had the same body build…? Hiccup couldn't detect any lies in what the man said and Toothless could neither. Both of them thought it was a weird idea… names being punctuation marks… and it was about to be expanded.

The next one stepped up. This was the guy who had two dots instead of eyes. He snorted and said: "I'm Colon. Though not quite as old as the waste of Space over there, I am getting around. So I was granted the name Colon when our young Period was born." He then stepped back and bowed before returning to his previous position in the line of people.

This guy seemed… cold. Hard. Straight to the point. His voice was void of emotion. And he _was_ a guy: like the others his voice gave him away. He was different though in the sense that he was slightly more tanned than Dot or Space. Hiccup wondered why that was; both Dot and Space had the same color the same jaw line… But for the moment Hiccup decided he didn't like the guy very much and especially the cold comment about Space, who didn't seem to have pissed Colon off as far as Hiccup could tell, was supporting this action. At least Dot and Space had personalities!

The third person who stepped up was wearing a mask where instead of eyes, two commas were positioned. Hiccup didn't even let the person speak: "You're Comma."

"Yes. I am Comma. …I realize that you are beginning to wonder what the relationship between all of us is, but do not worry. Dot will explain when we've all introduced ourselves. Dot cares about all of us as well as our guests; that is the "new way of thinking". Previously, we had some internal problems… but now we can all do our jobs and we're all relatively happy with each other."

Comma was a man as well. Were they all male? It just couldn't be. Where was Dot's mother then? Hiccup thought of the hierarchy that seemed to be in place and he realized that the two last had to be Dot's mother and father. It made sense that Dot's parents were the youngest and therefore the closest to the "new way of thinking". Hiccup sighed as he realized he'd used one of their expressions… but he supposed that to understand the others better he would need to set himself in their place.

As for what Hiccup noticed about Comma specifically: The man spoke in a controlled voice. He was exhuming an air of professionalism and while this might push away some people, Hiccup could tell the man had a great deal of warmth underneath the cold exterior. Unlike Colon who seemed to be an empty shell of coldness. The fact that he had Commas as eyes made it seem like he was crying… but Hiccup didn't pursue this thought. Hiccup then noticed that his first assumption, on the only difference between the five family members was the different masks, was a wrong one. It seemed their faces were also different. Comma himself had a slighty – very slightly – different jaw. Not quite as edged as Dot's was at least.

As Comma stepped back the second to last person stepped up. This was the one whose mask had lines for eyes. An arm was extended to Hiccup and Hiccup took the man's hand and shook it. But the line-masked one didn't return the shake. It was then coldly announced: "I am Dash." The voice was male and as soon as Hiccup had let go of the hand, Dash stepped back in line with the others. The man might seem curt, brusque, but Hiccup got a different feel for those words than most others would have recognized. He seemed hateful… which was weird, because it was the first emotion that had been shown _towards_ him. Dot had written Hiccup off as unimportant, Space had seemed helpful, but was quite neutral, Colon was cold and indifferent towards everything it seemed, Comma was professional with a hidden warmth towards everyone as well, but Dash seemed… hateful. Towards Hiccup specifically.

Dash could be considered a clone of Dot, only without the upbeat personality. He even looked like it, from his hands to the bottom of his face that could be seen. Hiccup shrugged off his discomfort… it seemed like these guys were hit and miss. One was ok, the next was not, then one was ok and finally this one was again not ok. Hiccup didn't know what to expect from the last – the woman – but he hoped she would follow the pattern and be ok.

Hiccup could see the last person was having both two dots for eyes and two commas that combined into one nose. Hiccup realized it was two semicolons that were slanted into a V-shape. Hiccup could see this last person was black…? Why was Dot then… white? He hoped she, for it _had_ to be a she, would soon come over and introduce herself, but when nothing happened Dot patted Hiccup's shoulder and gently lead him to an empty seat at the table as the rest of the five found their own seats. Hiccup looked questioningly at Dot. "Who is the last one? Why didn't she introduce herself?"

"Herself? No, no, that is… _he_ is… uh. Well, Semicolon has always had a bit of a… problem. He's mentally… challenged. But because of certain factors, even though he is older than Space, he gets to be Semicolon, my right-hand man, the longest punctuation pause besides the full stop." Dot paused and then addressed the issue about sex. "I know why you think that there should be women around… but it's a bit painful to talk about. See, my mother, the only female left of the Fowl family, and my father died… in a recent excavation. It was me who took them there because I deemed it safe… this makes it my fault that they died."

Dot breathed in once and out once as if memories were assaulting his mind. And yet, Hiccup noticed something. However before Hiccup could think about his discovery Dot continued undisturbed: "As for the relations that Comma promised I would tell you of: Space is my grandfather on the mother's side, Colon is my grandfather on the father's side, Comma and Semicolon are my father's brothers and Dash is my mother's brother." He sighed, as if to wonder why he'd _had_ to explain these relations to _Hiccup_ of all people. "Enjoy the meal…" And after that final remark Dot sat on the seat next to Hiccup. Hiccup realized that food had appeared on the table; at least food hadn't changed in a thousand years…

Artemis missed the bulk of the meal, not that he really cared. He was deeply swallowed by the library and he was rapidly gaining more knowledge of what world they had arrived in. It seemed like his own self had had good reasons for inventing the masks with the intention of stopping war. World War III, World War IV and World War V had decimated the Earth's population and made most of the globe uninhabitable. But during and after the last war, Artemis had finally managed to bring his invention onto the big market… and from there everything had exploded. The end result was that all knowledge was available to everyone, no wars happened, no evil in general only with few exceptions and those few exceptions were being rapidly eliminated. It seemed like the realization of not just Artemis' personal Utopia, but an actual Utopia…

But Artemis kept getting distracted by questions: Why had Simetra said this was an impossible future to change? And why did Artemis feel so… calm? At home. At peace. Artemis had wondered ever since he'd come to this future: Why had the heavy weight that had kept him vigilant until now, suddenly disappeared? Not that he was complaining, it was nice to feel released, but still… why now?

Artemis suspected the answer to the first question could be that because everything _had_ been solved, the wars were already over, it would be nearly impossible to change this future without resorting to… dishonorable methods. These involved a _worsening_ of the future and/or killing someone. Artemis didn't want to have to resort to that… but if this was an alternate universe… he _could_ be forced to do it. For now though he would think about what he could do otherwise. Artemis decided he was willing to wait an entire year before turning to such drastic measures… he wasn't at all prepared to kill anyone even if this was an alternate universe…

The second question though bothered him a bit. Trials one and two had been pure nightmares and haunting him every step of the way had been that… insecure feeling of wrongness. This feeling had suddenly vanished. Artemis couldn't guess the answer, but perhaps… it was the presence of family and friends that was calming him. This was only a guess… but perhaps Artemis had changed fundamentally. Had he? If he somehow ended up in his mindroom would it have changed or had he just now lied to himself? How could he know? He couldn't… but the guess was as good as any and for now Artemis would use it as an answer. It was undoubtedly nice, to _not_ be hounded by some all-seeing eye from above – no offense to Simetra who had turned out to be quite helpful. For the first time in a month, Artemis felt he could calm down…

After racking through the whole of the History section, and deducing half-answers to the most prominent of his inner questions, Artemis returned to the dining hall. And found himself in the middle of a party. It seemed Hiccup had been offered wine… and Toothless had also been helping himself to a few bottles of the substance – well, the dragon _had_ found the taste no worse than water, and after the fourth bottle… he lay snoring in one corner of the room. At least the dragon had enough sense to stop at some point. However, it wasn't Toothless that caught Artemis attention; it was Hiccup. It might be that Artemis was slightly surprised at the amount of people in the room, but right now… Artemis noticed that Dot was listening to Hiccup talking… and Hiccup was drunk…

"…Yea, was all T'thless, b't we were th' dishtracrion… dis… tracthion! Should haves seen… 'r face, w's all 'GUAAAH!' and we were l'ke 'GAUAUA' and then we…"

Artemis considered whether he should facepalm for the second time that day – at Hiccup, who had somehow found the one bit of Viking bragging he had in him – or if he should freeze up at the implication of what was going on… Dot was interrogating Hiccup about _their_ story… what had Hiccup given away without actually wanting to say anything? Artemis kept his face calm as he addressed the two people he actually knew at the table in the most decisive tone he had.

"Period! Why didn't you say dinner was served?" Artemis tried to inject a bit of hurt, directed at Dot, just an underlying 'you're playing a dangerous game here', but it failed. He'd even used the name Period, as it seemed it was a bit more serious than using the name Dot, but Dot was smiling back at him innocently.

"I forgot. But you seem to have kept yourself occupied… you have certainly gone through quite a lot… ah, but again, I'm completely forgetting my manners. Sit, sit and let the good food ease your weary travels…" Dot said in a joking tone. Artemis was still uneasy, but he was hungry as well and so…

It didn't take long before Artemis had joined the fun; after trying to consume his dinner in silence he had been lured into consuming a suspicious kind of soup, and before anyone knew it, Artemis was also a bit under influence… Artemis was then introduced to the mask-wearing Fowl family. Dash, who seemed to hate everybody he came into contact with. Semicolon, who spent most of the evening giggling at the corner of the table to himself… no one really wanted to go near the guy. Space, who seemed to have taken a very unhealthy interest in Artemis – half way into Artemis' meal, he got up and went for Artemis with outstretched arms as if he wanted to strangle him – until Dot stepped in front of Artemis and sent him away with an unspoken command. Colon, who was totally indifferent and seemed to harbor a sarcastic tone when it came to the other members of his family. And finally Comma, who seemed to be the only sane and reasonable person besides Dot.

Artemis was thoroughly suspicious of Dot now… why was he being drugged… but when Hiccup pointed out in a slurring speech "I just told him some things Artemis… nothing serious", Artemis dropped the immediate confrontation. It was the easier approach, for now.

This event would be the beginning of a rather ambivalent week. On the surface it was even the start of a… relatively quiet week:

To any outside observer, it would seem that Artemis began relaxing further. Dot had proven to be extremely helpful by showing Artemis the secret library – Artemis had found that one of Dot's ancestors had been studying time travel and he had written down some thoughts on the subject that made it easier for Artemis to deduce what they could do to beat the third trial. Artemis realized that a way of them changing the future could come if they made Dot complete an excavation his future didn't describe him doing or even if they changed the order of the excavations. Therefore, Artemis had spent three days pestering Dot to let go of his most recent excavation, whatever that might be and focus on another.

It would also seem that Artemis thought that Dot's work was beyond amazing. He had whole bookshelves on lost books in different languages that Artemis found he could translate – much to Dot's joy. Dot had shown Artemis his entire collection of findings – Dot seemed to like books, as he had donated all other treasures he had found to museums. Artemis found that Dot had a weakness for Greek mythology. He had excavated the Zeus temple as one of his first major discoveries… and from there the train of discoveries had rolled with blinding speed. Dot knew the dangers of travelling into the contaminated zone – aftereffects of the last war had had massive consequences for the environment – but as it was slowly becoming possible to return to the hit countries, Dot jumped at the opportunity.

It seemed that humans had discovered a cheap version of the 'blue rinse'. Instead of a huge nuclear explosion to spread radiation, the humans had merely applied the principle of the 'blue rinse' as nondestructive to nonorganic matter and made it radioactive to ensure that some locations could not be visited in hundreds of years. Now, however, things were brightening up. Dot had been one of the first to return to the areas around Greece and he'd bought the exclusive rights to a lot of things around there. While you had to wear a special protective suit to even go near Europe – and it got worse as you continued south – it was at least possible. And Dot was on fire whenever the subject fell on archaeology.

However, there were a few problems as well. Except for the first night where Artemis had been just a tiny bit under influence, Artemis still had trouble with Dot's family – his own family he supposed. He'd spent a bit of time with Hiccup and Toothless as well, but there was much to be desired if it was to be called a friendship. Artemis was still caught somewhere between his previous definition – mutual benefit – and the new one Hiccup had defined for him – enjoyment of the others company even if that person had no 'role'; he had to be himself. Then there was also the matter of getting rid of the guilt he harbored in his conscious all the time… so Artemis worked hard on the translations to stop thinking about such things… those things could _always_ be worked out later…

However, this was only what could be read on the surface. Because when Artemis wasn't translating and doing everything he could to not think about his current predicament, Artemis was reflecting – if you could even call it that. More like being pushed towards the point of insanity…

Fundamentally it came down to a few things. The first mystery that was haunting Artemis and by far the smallest, but also the most imminent, was Dot's character. Artemis didn't trust Dot. Not at all. There was something about the way he seemed to say the exact things that needed to be said to divert attention and something about his small… slipups that Artemis found immensely suspicious. The comment about his mask for instance… something about not trusting Artemis, Hiccup or Toothless in return as he didn't let them see his face. Something about the way he'd sneaked out the story from Hiccup… yes, Dot was definitely a Fowl. Well versed in deception. So how _could_ Artemis trust him?

The second mystery was a bit further from their current situation, but nonetheless something to be considered. How would they beat… Truth? Artemis could not ever see how that could be done; if Truth could only speak the truth, then all he'd have to say would be something along the lines of 'You just stepped on a landmine!' And they'd be dead. How the hell did you fight truth? Artemis' greatest aspiration, understanding the world around him perfectly, had been accomplished by Truth seeing as his every word would be law. So how could Artemis find the weakness in truth… no, scratch that, how could he find weakness in _absolute_ truth…? Or related to Truth; Falsity. Though Artemis couldn't really see the difference between the description of Falsity's powers and the description of an illusionist – Simetra's attempts at explaining that power seemed to destroy themselves as the very definition of an illusion was a false perception of reality. Not even the argument of 'Ooh, it goes to an instinctual level, that is why it _isn't_ a mere illusion', could change that. But still… how did you beat the ultimate illusionist?

Now, these two mysteries might be good for one or two pretty frightening nightmares… but they were child's play compared to the third mystery, which was haunting Artemis' dreams much more frequently. The third mystery was Holly's fate and in turn, the fate of the People. The history of the last thousand years had mentioned nothing of the People… which meant that they had to be alive still! Artemis knew that elves could live 1500 to 2000 years if they were of good health, and these two pieces of information meant that Artemis realized it was possible for Holly to still be alive…? Artemis didn't dare to follow this thought up; what if Holly had died in some natural disaster… or worse, in one of the wars?

Even more nightmares came from the fourth mystery: Artemis' mind. Now that he held the memories of 200+ years of loneliness (it was impossible to say with accuracy exactly how many years it was, but it was more than 200 years and less than 230) and the memories of being shunned by an entire village for fifteen straight years – even a memory of losing his mother… er, Hiccup's mother – Artemis found it increasingly difficult to maintain a sense of his own self. Who was he… was he actually Artemis or was he some sort of mixture? And as for that question: Were Hiccup and Toothless feeling the same? Or did this only apply to him? Artemis didn't ask Hiccup or Toothless, as once again he questioned what friendship there actually was between them. Those two definitely saw him as a friend… but Artemis didn't know if he'd been himself… When he'd appeared in Berk, he'd been beyond desperate to find anyone to connect with and Hiccup had been the first opportunity to show itself. Did that make them friends? Artemis really wanted to believe that… but to him it seemed the word 'acquaintances' or the word 'comrades' seemed to fit better… why was this so hard?

The fifth mystery was _where_ they were. Artemis couldn't find a book on the geography of the world… and in what place would hundreds of small islands be situated at perfectly equal distances? That definitely set off some alarms: Why the hell wouldn't there be books on the geography of the world? And as a bonus question, what designer would ever design a building after a blade… a good, thick base as the "hilt" of the sword, a thin part posing as the blade itself and the building ending in a curved point – almost resembling a scimitar. And all these buildings looked the same… was there no individuality in this world? Then there was the technology: flying cars that flew on some sort of anti-gravity module, a computer that controlled the house through illusions (or "molecular constructs", it seemed) and could flash-burn bacteria, essentially allowing the possibility of bathing with your clothes on, and the masks. Artemis supposed that if anything, the rest of his life would be lived with a _very_ open mind… there was _so_ much to understand!

The sixth mystery could be considered part of the first problem… but Artemis was so shocked when he discovered it that it had to be addressed separately. Artemis had found his magic again after the failure of realizing he could have used it against Opal. Not that it made any difference now… the future Fowl's had masks and as there was no eye-contact there could be no _Mesmer_. But this wasn't the disconcerting part… no, the scary thing was that Artemis couldn't see the auras of the entirety of the future Fowl family. It wasn't that their auras were transparent (which was possible if the person in question didn't think of anything), there were _no_ auras! Which was a serious incitement towards Artemis reluctance to trust the same Fowl family… what could possibly make this happen? Were they dead men walking or something?

The seventh (oh god, MORE?) and final (…phew) mystery was the construction of the world. Artemis was realizing the futility of their mission. There were no words to describe the despair that this single statement had caused Artemis. Determinism. Fate. Destiny, whatever you could possibly want to call it, it was real. Time _had_ a 'mold' of some kind, according to Simetra, which meant that every act of free will was predetermined… and this sucked out any meaning life could possibly hold. Whatever would happen, would happen because it had already been determined… Artemis didn't know how he could fight something like that. If they, against all odds, succeeded, then this system would undoubtedly be restored… which meant that the rest of Artemis' life was planned out already… Artemis liked meticulousness, but to such a degree… no, that was just wrong. And the bonus info: Good and evil being controlled by randomness or unpredictability… but in the end that randomness had already been determined…

There was a very clear reason for Artemis NOT wanting to think too much… which was why he drowned himself in working on translations.

As for what Hiccup and Toothless did when Artemis wasn't trying to make small talk seem like the hardest thing in the world… they worked on bringing the Fowl family closer together. It seemed like what Comma had said was correct; they did fundamentally feel better about each other, but there was still work to do. Hiccup found he could use both scaring tactics (Toothless) and pep-talks to give the members of family different periods of time together. While Dash had flat-out refused to give in to these 'therapies' and Colon reacted indifferently as well, both Space, Comma and Semicolon got just a bit closer to each other. At first just Space and Comma, but when Semicolon had said the first word Hiccup had heard him say: "Join?" Hiccup didn't see a reason to keep him out. While Semicolon had serious trouble even articulating words, Hiccup could see that the guy wasn't as mentally handicapped as originally believed. He was just born with some sort of fault…

Toothless and Hiccup spent most of the in-between spare time together. After two days where the tenseness had slowly stagnated into nothing, Hiccup and Toothless had had their first session of just lying in the garden outside the Manor watching the day go by. Toothless got his first 'scratching session' in a month and was completely gone for five minutes… On the fourth day Toothless insisted they try out flying together again and their strengthened bond allowed them to get even more precise, more concise in their aerial maneuvering. Hiccup had come back much happier from what could only be called the ultimate roller coaster… and Toothless was uncontrollable and couldn't wait to get out the next day. Dot warned them not to fly too far south, as the radiation levels were still lethal if you weren't protected, but otherwise the few hours they were out flying were sacred.

Whenever the pair was flying they did so in the same surroundings, dodging flying cars left and right, greeting Ms. W, who was an old lady with a flying flower shop (her family was huge and that family had decided to call themselves after letters. Her mask had a huge W painted on), and they were enjoying the relative silence. Compared to the second trial at least. But they knew that it was the silence before the storm… soon the third trial would be over and done with as Artemis had a plan (obviously) and they would have to fight for their lives against godlike entities… not exactly the brightest aspect of their future, so Hiccup and Toothless focused their energy on relaxing and enjoying their quiet days… if only those days could continue…

The past three paragraphs was of course only what the outside observer could gather.

Because underneath the surface, Hiccup was growing increasingly frustrated. He saw absolutely no connection at all between these people – they were supposed to be family, for Freya's sake! There were also some minor faults with the information that Dot had shared. There was no way there had been only one female in this place. Hiccup had explored the "New Fowl Manor" and some ten rooms or so were all designed for female inhabitance. Dot had said he blamed himself for his parents' deaths, but there hadn't seemed to be even a touch of remorse in his voice as he said that…? Another thing was the fact that Dot had gotten over the existence of dragons in zero seconds – as if he'd expected them to be real even before. Hiccup just couldn't see anyone having such an amount of self-control. Even Artemis had completely lost it for about two seconds, before beginning to think about how he could use Toothless to get home… but that was a sidetrack. The point was that there was something wrong, but everything else _seemed_ so right that it was almost unnoticeable…

On the positive side, Hiccup and Toothless luckily avoided nightmares about having three memory banks at once, as they shared their dreams through the improving bond. Neither Hiccup nor Toothless could explain how the bond got stronger, but it was getting to the point where the most dominant thoughts could penetrate the door inside their minds that connected them. Only on the third night did the two of them have a creepy dream spawned from an offhanded comment Simetra had made. If Hiccup and Toothless had neutral counterparts as _their_ overseers… and they were the exact same as Simetra… were those two then called Puccih and Sselhtoot? Needless to say a very disturbing dream…

More seriously though, Hiccup was baffled at the insight Toothless had as a dragon. His own mind was focused on three things only. Toothless' mind was focused on a million things all at once. Hiccup supposed it was something to do with species, but it couldn't be proved… oh, listen to this. Proof, analysis, the third law of aerodynamics… how long could he actually stay sane with all of this ramming down on him? There was trouble in paradise…

Back to the real world though…

In exchange for Artemis' services (translating forgotten languages) over the next five days, Dot would finally give up on his current project and look for another project. This would mean the order of the future should change… it should change and they would complete the last trial… and Artemis couldn't believe how easy it had been. Of course none of the other Artemis' had trusted Simetra… and because _they_ had done so, he had helped them extensively. Now it was just a matter of waiting for the result… could it be so easy?

It had been a week and a day when Artemis, Hiccup and Toothless had first appeared. Artemis didn't really want to acknowledge the day for what it was… but he had to. It was a Thursday. Artemis had somehow grown really attached to hating Thursdays. But Artemis was determined to prove that this fact could be changed. The last Thursday had been uneventful, an entire day spent trying to convince Dot of Artemis' worth. It had been fruitless, but the day hadn't really been that bad. It had been worse for Toothless and Hiccup who were spending half the day in their bedroom because of a hangover… until they found that they could just ask the computer to remove the specific chemical reactions causing this headache.

But today was going to be different… today could be the day that Artemis finished his work for Dot and Dot would then give up his project and from there on any moment could be the last they spent in this future, as they would have from that point on "changed" the future. Artemis was still a bit nervous about the fact that everything had happened so uneventfully… it was like a build-up to a great disaster, but Artemis still couldn't quite pinpoint what it was…

If there was one thing that bothered Artemis, here on the eighth day – and this was the only thing, that _really_ bothered him currently, he had spent time with the other six mysteries – it was the fact that Dot had specifically stated that he only revealed his face to those he trusted… and he had yet to reveal his face to either Hiccup, Artemis or Toothless. The same applied to the rest of the Fowl's… or _were_ they all Fowls now that they had changed their names? Why were Artemis, Hiccup and Toothless still not being trusted enough with that information…?

But it wasn't until this Thursday that Artemis decided enough was enough. If things had to go sour between them, to find out why Dot was so secretive about this one thing, then what better day than a Thursday. It could be summed up in a sentence.

It was time to see where Dot went in the morning. If they couldn't find anything, then the rest of the day had been planned as described and they would have completed the 'impossible' future…

Artemis got up from bed, Toothless woke effortlessly as Artemis got out and together they made sure Hiccup didn't make any noise as he woke up. They snuck out of their bedroom and made their way to 'the door'. It was the door to the wine cellar, the door that Hiccup and Toothless had seen Dot pass through the day before yesterday. They had woken up early and seen Dot input an eight digit code before entering the wine cellar. On a whim, Artemis had tested this habit and it had checked out the next day as well: at 5 A.M. Dot would go through this door… but he had yet to show either member of the group what was behind the door or even that he did this. Curiosity killed the cat, seemed to be the appropriate thing to say, but Artemis was curious at revealing this one secret that Dot seemed to have…

Artemis had cracked the code the day before. It was a simple matter now that he knew some important dates in history – the code was the exact date of the end of the Fifth World War. The end of war. Artemis contemplated the symbolism in this code – Dot seemed obsessed with symbols as the house was riddled with different symbols; almost all of them from different mythologies – as he pressed the code. The door swung open without a sound. Artemis gestured for Toothless and Hiccup to follow silently. Hiccup was sitting on Toothless as to minimize their reaction speed should it be necessary to hide.

The stairs were darker than what Artemis remembered from his own time, but the end result was the same: they entered the wine cellar. It looked exactly as it had always done. Except for one crucial detail… Dot was gone.

Artemis was perplexed. He raised an eyebrow as he got an idea… it might be that this place was an illusion, in which case they wouldn't be able to do anything about it as their voices weren't coded to the command system, but Artemis guessed this was not the case. He guessed that this cellar was probably the original wine cellar, still going strong after a thousand years. And Artemis guessed that that could mean a good old-fashioned secret passage could be hidden somewhere down here…

They spread out searching various crates and barrels, various bricks and tiles, to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. It could have been incredibly anticlimactic… if they had not found something. As it was it was even the correct person who found _it_… because suddenly Hiccup stumbled backwards from the barrel that was lining the wall on a shelf…

Artemis noticed and came closer to see what the fuzz was about. Toothless visibly wilted as he read the emotions coming from Hiccup, and Artemis noticed. "What is it, Hiccup?" _What did you find…?_

Artemis didn't even need to ask when he saw what it was. Inscribed in the barrel was, what at a glance could be mistaken for an information sheet on vintage, but actually was something much darker.

On the barrel it stated:

_Here lies Stoick the Vast_

_The last Viking of the village of Berk_

_The war between Viking and dragon became his downfall_

_He now fights amongst equals in the halls of Valhalla, waiting for Ragnarok_

_And laid to rest with his remains lies the ashes of the inhabitants of Berk and the shattered dream of peace_

It was a tomb.

*shudder* that was a dark cliffhanger… oh well. I hope my ban really _is_ over and the next chapter will come out normally; damn, I need to get some momentum going again. I mean, it is what keeps this story rolling after all…

Omake 2: Mulch.

"C'mon!"

"No."

"Help a dwarf out!"

"The answer is still no. And how dare you use only four words! Shame on you."

"But how can you reject my awesomeness? I need to be in this story! I need to…"

"No. No. No. You are too hard to write. Now get lost! Stop bothering me, and stop knocking on my door at four in the morning. Aargh, now look, you made me say the cursed number!"

The author tried to close the door, but Mulch quickly got his foot in before the door could be completely closed. "Pretty please… just… just one appearance, two… just integrate me into the story dammit! You all need me! You cannot resist my greatness nor my 'special talents'!"

"I think I can safely say the last thing this story needs is your 'special talents'."

"You misunderstand me, man! Listen, I can do other stuff than 'that'. I can make this trainwreck of a story seem less awful… I can," Mulch gestured for the author to come closer. The author did so with great reluctance and Mulch whispered: "I can joke!"

"Well, Foaly seems to handle that on his own pretty well…"

"NO! NOT THE CENTAUR! I WILL NOT BE FOILED BY THE CENTAUR!"

The author pointed to the earplugs that had magically appeared in his ears as to indicate '_Yell all you want; it's not going to help you'_. "Then you will be foiled by me. You should not have insulted my story! Good day to you…"

"NOOOOOO!"

Mulch considered if he should try again. But as his attention span was like that of a butterfly and his kleptomaniac nature compelled him to do so… he decided to steal the next chapter of the story… not a very good idea. Mulch would later regard his experience as a traumatic one… but he could never remember exactly what had happened inside that little room because of a suppression of this trauma. Something about candy floss… as a substitute for sunscreen! And a solarium, definitely! Mulch shuddered violently and entirely involuntarily and set out to find some other story to pester.

Just a bit of Mulch-bashing. Can you call it that? It's not like I hate the dude (dwarf), but I noticed I hadn't really thought up a spot for him in this story… so the idea just rolled on its own. By the way, OVER 9000! As a matter of fact: 10900 words! Holy…! Anyway, if you are still there, in for the long haul and all that, thank you. I realize this chapter is a bit on the descriptive side... but it'll get better. I've got some action planned by the 33rd chapter! ^_^!


	32. Dystopia

This is an important notice (not really…). The author thought he had succumbed to the perilous sickness known as the Atlantis Complex, last chapter. This is a lie as the author does not (sadly) possess any magic powers. It was just a case of schizophrenia. No need to worry…

Meanwhile, a relapse of epic proportions, caused by the amazingly horrendous substance known as candy floss, has inflicted massive amounts of lack of inspiration in the author's main persona. It was cured by a rather stunning grade in one of my worst subjects; expecting a D and getting an A+ is a very positive experience. You should try it sometime.

Though the bullshit science will most likely continue to plague the following chapters… let it be known that the idea of decoding the language of the brains (making schools obsolete!) has actually been predicted to happen 50 years from now. Something to consider, huh? Is it even ethically defendable? That everyone knows _exactly_ the same? I'll leave that one for you to decide…

I realized last chapter I totally forgot to make a shout out to the good folks who faved, alerted and read my story – I only actually thanked those who had reviewed! Sorry… but I'll redeem myself now! THANK YOU! ^_^!

And seeing as the lack of inspiration seems to be affecting the random generator – which is used to make random statistics for the today – we'll have to go with a classic, now with new stats: 4200 hits total now! And seeing as 42 is the meaning of… yeah, you get it, right? (… and split in half it becomes 21! Do I need to laugh maniacally now?)

Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and co. is owned by Eoin Colfer. Hiccup and co. is owned by Dreamworks. I own the plot though . And whatever characters I may or may not come up with.

Act 3: Future.

Chapter 32: Dystopia.

Hiccup felt as if someone had wrenched his heart out of its socket. _Became his downfall… shattered dream of peace… waiting for Ragnarok…the last Viking…_ Hiccup breathing stopped. This could not be real!

Toothless didn't feel much better than Hiccup as the feeling of extreme dread and hopelessness assaulted Hiccup's heart and by extension his own. Toothless had never felt anything like this… no dragon had, as there was no such extreme bonding between parent and cub and therefore no such extreme feeling of loss should the parent pass away. The parent might mourn the loss of the cub, or vice versa, but in the end a dragon accepted death as part of life. The parents' jobs (or parent's job) was exactly to prepare the cub for this fact. Toothless had been one of the lucky ones who had both of his parents for nearly ten years. He still missed them, but he had long passed grief… until now. Hiccup was ripping open his heart with these emotions, tearing both of them apart. Old wounds reopened. Trying to comfort Hiccup that his father had been dead for nearly two millennia, Toothless willingly opened more of his bond to help Hiccup out of his anguish…

But it proved harder than at first anticipated. It wasn't as much the fact that Stoick had long since passed on to another world. It was the harsh wording on his tomb that did the trick. It was like spitting on a dead man's grave to be speaking of shattered peace and Hiccup found that he was actually getting angry at whoever had had such… complete disrespect for his father's image that even in death that person had mocked him. Was this Period's work? Or was there something they were not seeing?

Artemis knew what was hitting Hiccup so very hard – what did anyone expect when the souls of the three were so intrinsically linked – but he did not allow his emotions to rule him as they did Hiccup. There was something about this whole thing that was becoming increasingly fishy. Most of all was that _feeling_ of total relaxation, as if they really had arrived in paradise or a utopia or whatever you'd want to call it. Maybe it was the power of thought; the fact that every human on the planet thought almost exactly alike, as they all had each other's knowledge, and this fact caused the world to be in perfect harmony. But still, even that left the questions of why there was so much need for secrecy in this place…

Hiccup reacted. With a hidden burst of power, Hiccup's anger won over the innate calm he was feeling (for some reason…? Why did a part of him feel calm?). He grabbed the barrel and pulled it off the shelf with a heave. So much for silently following Dot. But suddenly several things happened.

For one, everyone was suddenly covered in dead people. The aging barrel could not stand up to its rather abrupt meeting with the floor and everything exploded in ashes and dust. However another thing, which was far more important, happened as well. The shelf, which had been supporting the barrel, suddenly clicked and before Artemis could even react to being hit by a tsunami of ash, a door opened in the corner of the room.

For a short while no one said anything. What could they possibly say when opening the mouth meant you inhaled dead people? Toothless was the first to regain his composure and with a beat of his wings the dust was kicked up again, but this time it gathered in one end of the room instead of on the three living creatures in the room.

Then Toothless voiced his worry: "Something is wrong. Hiccup… Don't take this… this thing to heart, ok? We need to stay on our toes. It could be a lie… something to throw you off." Toothless said this last part to convince both himself and Hiccup, but Hiccup seemed to take his advice.

Hiccup, who was still on edge due to anger, sadness and shock, slowly nodded. That was a good thought; it was all a lie. But… if he found out who did this, they would pay. Dearly.

"Let's go," Artemis said and entered the newly opened door with caution. They were now walking down a rather small corridor. The paint on the walls had long since fallen off. But there was no dust on the floor indicating that the corridor was still in use. Hiccup had crawled onto Toothless again, still feeling the aftereffects of the shock, but rapidly convincing himself to overcome it. They all needed to be _actually_ present mentally otherwise they could accidentally make a huge mistake. Soon the twisting corridor ended at a crossroad.

The corridor continued to the left and to the right, but both corridors looked equally unattractive. Basically the corridors continued in both directions, but they were mirror images of each other.

Artemis turned to Hiccup and Toothless: "Right or left?"

This seemingly innocent choice between right or left could actually become rather important… They could continue down either and leave everything to chance… or they could split up. The choice though was simple to Artemis. He wasn't willing to split up. Even though they would be absolutely sure to see everything, it would mean a huge chance for Dot or one of the other "future Fowls" to assault the person who got chosen to be alone – if they were bad, which almost certainly seemed to be the case. Therefore, it was up to luck… Who was he actually kidding? Artemis snorted. Their choice had already been fated… nothing they could do. So when Hiccup said "Left," Artemis simply moved without any enthusiasm down the right path. Not that fate hadn't anticipated this, but Artemis felt it was the small victories that counted.

Hiccup finally spotted the slump that Artemis walked with. Why hadn't he noticed earlier…? It was obvious now that Hiccup thought about it that Artemis was in deep thought. Hiccup spoke up: "Artemis, why are you so… down?"

Artemis could have given the Viking and the dragon any old story. But Artemis was too tired to actually bother thinking something up. "…Fate. Haven't you thought about it? Simetra said that time originally had a 'mold' it followed and only time travel and paradoxes could do something to disrupt that 'mold'. So anything we do… is already fated. We have no free will, no choice, but to follow our _destiny_." The last word was spat out with as much contempt as Artemis could muster.

Hiccup actually stopped and thought about it. And no matter how much he thought about it, he came to the same conclusion. "So you think that if we killed ourselves right now, right here, it would be our fate? It would be the fate of the world to go under thanks to some group of massively overpowered people, who just happens to be ourselves and all that? Forget that story, Artemis! I know you asked the question of why we should believe Simetra… and I admit there were some good points in some parts of his story … but I think he himself has an agenda. Surely you of all people can see that. You don't _have_ to believe everything he says! I'm just… saying that… some things should not be thought over too much. But when that guy says something you _need_ to be critical in what you choose to believe."

Artemis was actually gaping like a fish now. He felt almost as vile and dirty as he'd done when he'd been punched by Holly and forced – well, forced was such a wide term and Artemis pride was still existing… – to utter the word 'lollipop'! Hiccup had it right on so many levels that Artemis was actually wondering if he was developing some sort of mental condition. Or had had some kind of mental block? He couldn't possibly have been so stupid to believe something like that without question, could he? There was no definitive way to _prove_ that Simetra had told them the truth all the time, so why should he believe something they hadn't even asked about? Simetra had given them 'bonus info' on the relationship between good and evil being random, but that contradicted the idea that everything was determined. It undermined the entire thing. Artemis shook his head, now was not the time to be thinking about such things, but Artemis felt better than he had done in… a long time.

A brief thought passed Artemis' mind in the same instant. To think it had now been five and a half week since he'd been craving for something to happen. Anything to stimulate his thirst for knowledge. Artemis momentarily wondered if the person who had coined the phrase 'Be careful what you wish for', actually had any idea how true those words could ring. Probably not.

"…Thank you, Hiccup. I think I needed that." It was easier to thank Hiccup than Artemis had expected, but perhaps so much time with… _his friends_ (Artemis winced; he hadn't been a very good friend, had he?)… had taught Artemis something after all. Now all they needed to deal with was Dot…

"No problem, Artemis. Let's just go down the right path then, as an act of free will," Hiccup joked. Then he smiled; Artemis looked so much lighter now. Perhaps this was what had kept him down all of this past week. Hiccup mentally scolded himself for not noticing. Toothless reacted by telling him that he at least Hiccup had helped Artemis now… though there was still something that was bothering the teen. Toothless encouraged Hiccup on his path to become an expert in dealing with people – a trait he would need if… no, _when_ they returned to Berk; it wouldn't do for Hiccup to be a reclusive, shy leader. Vikings needed a strong charismatic leader, and if Hiccup could understand and relate to a lot of different characters that would only help him.

_If I could only get over… all of this excess knowledge that just won't allow me to live my life peacefully_, Hiccup thought.

Toothless, however, had more or less accepted he now knew more about the how's and why's of flying. The laws of aerodynamics, for instance, _ruled_! Continuity, Conservation of Momentum and Conservation of Energy. Totally what a dragon needs for every day flight control… not. But at least he now knew what his instincts actually _did_. Not that it did him any good to know, but at least it didn't do anything bad.

They walked down the corridor in silence, which was a clever move – whether intended or unintended – because after a minute a voice could be heard, reverberating throughout the corridor. "… and still you're not broken! I find this… intriguing. I wonder how you can disregard every trick in the book, and some outside of it, but no matter. I have no more time to deal with you and seeing as I can't _understand_ your mystery, I can at least make it void."

It was Dot's voice.

Another voice joined in, but this voice sounded like it was in a lot of pain. "… I… will find… nrgh, my way out. And when… I do… ghh, I'll be coming… for you!" The voice was male and strained as if he was being tortured just by speaking, yet the voice was so defiant that the intention shone through the voice alone: You will _never_ break me.

"Hahaha. Don't bother with the jokes, I know you're just making a final stand. Well, this talk has been just as enlightening as the ones over the past three years, but I just want you to know…" Dot's voice suddenly took on a sensitive tone, "… that I've enjoyed the challenge you've posed to me. I think… perhaps when this day is over, and the whole thing has played out as I want it to, I could be convinced to give you a place of honor. Something along the lines of 'He went down fighting. His mistake was that he had _no_ idea what his opponent was capable of…' I'm still thinking about some of the finer details in what should be inscribed on your grave, but suffice to say it will be memorable. Now if you'll excuse me…"

Artemis, Hiccup and Toothless froze as they heard a multitude of footsteps come closer. It took not even a second for Toothless to react, jumping close and throwing Artemis onto his back (much to Artemis dismay; these sudden movements was something soldiers did, not strategists) before sprinting back down the hallway silently. They quickly took the left path and followed it until they were in a position where they could continue down the tunnel (to avoid whomever was coming towards them), but where they could also hear if the procession was walking towards the wine cellar.

Artemis silently cursed. Toothless' plan was a good one, if not for one simple thing. Hiccup's "interference" with the barrel would almost certainly be found – only if every single member of the procession came towards _them_ would they _not_ be discovered and that would put them in a bad position too. If the barrel was found smashed then things would start to go really wrong. Whilst in the process of thinking about how to salvage the situation, Artemis also dissected the different statements he'd just heard, but the conclusion was clear: Dot was keeping someone prisoner! This was irrefutable proof that Dot was up to something… and judging from his choice of words it didn't sound good. '_…when this day is over and the whole thing has played out as I want it to…'_ Dot had absolute confidence in something that was going to go down today. Unable to keep a slight shudder from affecting his body, Artemis quickly returned his attention to the sounds that were coming from the corridor.

Artemis' heart dropped when he could hear that they _all_ proceeded onwards and away from them; they were going to be discovered in a minute or so. Without thinking, Artemis quickly jumped off Toothless and ran silently back towards the prisoner. They had barely enough time to save him/her (it had been impossible to identify from the pain laced in the voice) from their predicament and at the same time avoid detection. But if Artemis ran… it could give them a head start…

Artemis didn't want to think about the fact that Toothless couldn't possibly carry three people. They were just going to have to find that… flying car thing, and make it work! Somehow…

Toothless and Hiccup were both silently yelling at Artemis to come back – he couldn't be thinking about rescuing the prisoner, could he? – but (surprise) Artemis couldn't hear their minds yelling. Silent yelling was just that – silent! They knew that if they made any noise then Dot and the rest would be over them in seconds.

Artemis stormed into the room they had been listening to the previous conversation. Part of him actually thought that it would be empty – that it had all just been a hallucination, a dream, a nightmare. This part expected to wake up any second and no matter how much Artemis pinched his arm, no matter how much he _knew_ this was no dream, this part of Artemis' mind prevailed. The other part though knew that this was as far from a dream as could get. It had to be a nightmare…

Hanging from his arms in chains that were fastened to the wall, the prisoner was bloody and beaten. Acid marks, scorch marks, scars, open and closed wounds were all over his nearly naked body. Only his dignity was still preserved by a ragged dirty cloth wrapped around his waist. And even that was a far cry from the truth. The man was as close to broken as could be, without actually having broken yet. Or perhaps this was what it looked like when you _had_ broken multiple times and had gotten used to being broken. Artemis wasn't sure.

Hiccup and Toothless had just entered the room behind Artemis… and upon seeing the prisoner more than one world picture shattered.

Because the prisoner hanging on the wall wasn't a stranger.

It was another Artemis.

Artemis couldn't even find it in himself to care about _another_ Artemis appearing. For all he knew… they were everywhere. Clones of himself that wasn't him. It was weird but… he'd kind of gotten used to it now. Amazingly all it took was a combination of the following: Near omniscient, near immortal clone, check. Younger self, with an obsession with dragons, check. Older self, who was actually a combination of both him, Hiccup and Toothless, check. Some 30 million year-old, ultra analytical clone, check. And now tortured, around 24-25 year-old clone of himself, check.

Artemis, however, _could_ find it in himself to care about the _state_ this newest clone was in. They _had_ to free him; it wouldn't be possible for Artemis to survive the backlash his conscience would give him, if he did not free him. The clone was staring wide-eyed at them.

"…What? …"

Unlike the analytical Artemis, who had chewed each word before spitting them out with the perfect intonation and all that, this one was too powerless to actually speak full sentences. At least for now. Artemis was about to rectify that part… somehow they would get out of here. Artemis cursed the fact that all of his logic was completely dying in the face of this… person, who was so much like himself, so himself, that he could not think clearly. There was some sort of mental buzz preventing him from thinking about anything else than freeing the guy.

Luckily, releasing the chains was an easy affair. A switch had been embedded into the wall. With it you could control the locks… or the distance between the chains… Artemis unintentionally winced as a disturbing mental image carved its way into his mind. Slowly having one's arms pulled further and further away from you… feeling as you were stretched to painful lengths… Artemis pressed the release switch immediately. The prisoner fell to the floor in a chaotic heap. No power ran through those limbs…

"… What…are… you…?" the prisoner Artemis asked.

Artemis lifted him off the ground with Hiccup's help without a word. It was an arduous task; both Hiccup and him had neither the right height nor the right endurance to carry the former prisoner very far, so it was no wonder when they only made it halfway down the other branch of the corridor (aka. Safe haven for now), before collapsing.

Toothless tried to lighten the mood: "I could carry him across my back. Did you two know that or did you just decide you had to drag a bloody trail all the way to our location?"

Artemis was still trying to regain his breath, and though it wasn't as bad as Toothless had said, there was a noticeable amount of blood drops which together formed a path to which they could be traced. Artemis cursed. _What now?_

Artemis had now essentially worked himself into a corner. And not just any kind of corner, no, this was the corner of corners. A strategic one. The one advantage, the one reason the corner hadn't turned into a cage, was the fact that they knew that Dot _had_ had a prisoner. He was incriminated! Add that to the fact the prisoner was actually Artemis… well, they had a fairly consistent plan A – confront the guy! However strategically speaking, Artemis should have had a plan B… and with that thought in mind, Artemis realized what they had to do.

"I know you could carry him, Toothless. But the reason I'm not going to take you up on the offer is simple: We have no reason to run anymore. Dot and his… family will be here shortly so we should take that time to discover what is actually up." With that Artemis turned his attention to the prisoner.

"Are you Artemis Fowl the Second?"

"… yeah… I am…"

"Do you know what you are doing here? Why were you tortured?"

Hiccup almost interrupted Artemis at this point – why should they ask him this _now_; couldn't they find a safer place – when a dormant part of his mind told him what Artemis' most likely plan was. Blackmail.

Getting info on what Dot had planned for them would give them valuable knowledge that – hopefully – Dot wouldn't be able to circumvent. So Hiccup held his tongue and silently listened to the new Artemis telling his own story:

"… I… am a time… traveler. That guy… Period… he interrogated me… to find out how to… time travel. But… it was not me… who was capable… of time travel… it was some other guy… who looked like me… but he was older… and he called himself Simetra… I realized that… Simetra wasn't guilty of… his own powers… but some other… me's, err," the former prisoner coughed, "were forcing him into doing… these things… with myself. Some-… something about experiments… and finding the right person… who could survive… three trials… and…"

Artemis cut him off. "This… this Simetra guy. Did he say…" Artemis held his breath as he asked his question, "did he say that you were the first to complete the second trial?" Could this be his previously thirteen year-old self that had been "taken" just before the reveal that his father was still alive? The person who had spent five years in Hiccup's past, and who had also completed his present?

"How… did you know… that?" the prisoner asked, suddenly wary. Apparently torture did wonders for suspicion, even though they had just saved him.

"… I didn't say… anything… about me completing… any of the trials…"

"Do you not recognize yourself?" Artemis asked. "I am you as well. I am the second to have completed the second trial and I, we was sent to this future… to change it and complete the last trial."

"You… You're like me?" The former prisoner looked up at Artemis' face. "No… you are… me!"

"Yeah, well… err, Artemis, I need to know about Dot. Who is he? What can he do? What is his plan?" Artemis decided he didn't have enough time to explain it all to himself, but he hoped his other self would get the hint and answer quickly.

The former imprisoned Artemis actually opened his mouth to answer, but suddenly his eyes widened and he scurried onto his feet and ran. It all happened so quickly that neither of the group thought to stop him and not ten seconds after the formerly imprisoned Artemis had started running everything changed. The corridor exploded into colors and suddenly a drawling voice crawled out from behind them: "Yo! Is that a dragon?" The tone was mocking and left no room for discussion as to who it could be.

Dot and his family were standing around them; the corridor had widened into a circular room with no exits. The room was a neutral grey color and there was no furniture in the room. Answering the group's unspoken question Dot stated, in explanation of the sudden change of the corridor: "Molecular constructions. Everything within the borders of my home are "real illusions", in the sense that they can be commanded into whatever structure I wish for them to have. Now… I couldn't help but notice you had three questions about me? Why didn't you just ask… _**me?**_" Dot's voice suddenly gained a different tone.

Artemis stumbled back towards where Hiccup and Toothless were standing stunned as Dot's demeanor turned hostile. Toothless entered an aggressive stance to counter Dot's, one where you could feel the presence the dragon; one wrong move and Toothless would unleash his wrath on them. These people had tortured Artemis, not the one they knew, but still Artemis, and if they tried something, he'd get back at them. Hiccup was quietly still trying to get over the fact that Dot was releasing just as much ill intent as Toothless… how did that work?

All the family members were carrying some sort of firearm. All of their weapons looked very much capable of ending lives. But they were also… blurry, shapeless almost, which was weird but didn't make them look any less frightening. Hiccup decided to bide his time for now.

Artemis was the first to recover with a sharp return: "_So_… who are you? What can you do? What is your plan?"

Dot let go of his posture and relaxed. He even allowed himself a small smile, before continuing to speak.

"I find it impressive that you recovered so fast from our little ambush… Artemis. But I suppose that is to be expected… from you. Your questions _will_ be answered, but first… I would like to ask _you_ another question. Where is he?"

Artemis somehow realized they were talking about the freed version of himself. "He ran." Artemis replied truthfully. Not really much to do when you're surrounded by God knows what; who knew what Dot could pull out of his sleeve – that flash burn thing for instance. Was that present here as well?

"He ran? Ha… that's an interesting reaction, although I think I know what he's trying to do." Dot smiled. Then he breathed out deeply and gathered himself before continuing. "If you had to choose between the three questions you just asked me… which would you ask?"

"I would ask who you are. Truthfully. Taking your mask off and showing your face." Artemis stated immediately. Know your enemy and all that was important if Artemis was to have a chance to counter recent events.

Dot laughed out loud. "Yeah? Not my plan? Fine." He then lifted a hand as to take off his mask – much to the dismay of the rest of Dot's family. But they didn't openly argue with Dot's decision. Only Space seemed to be nearing a boiling point – trigger happy much? – but at a glare from Dot, Space backed down.

Dot removed his mask… and suddenly everything about the guy changed. It was weird; before the mask had been off Artemis hadn't been able to think about how old any of these guys were. It was as if a mental command, issued by his own brain, was keeping him from questioning Dot's appearance – to a certain degree. They _had_ been suspicious… now however, everything became clear.

Starting with the least revealing stuff, now that the mask was off it was possible to guess that Dot's age was either just a bit less than the freed prison Artemis, or the same. Definitely an adult. The fact that Dot's body had just resembled a teenager – or had it? Artemis suddenly found he couldn't remember the original mental picture he'd had of Dot! – was _very_ creepy.

Far creepier, though, was the fact that Artemis knew who he was standing across. There was no mistaking that those eyes… belonged to someone Artemis had had the displeasure of meeting once before. It was the analytical Artemis! This statement should have blown Artemis' mind, but he found that his immunity to the revealing of his own clones still stood strong. That was at least one good thing that came out of having an open mind, that Artemis had forced himself to have.

"I see you recognize me. Good. Do you wonder where … my… way… of… talking… like… this… has gone? Well, I can't thank _you_ enough for getting rid of that… so thank you. As a way of repaying my debt, let me answer another one of your questions. Your choice, my spiritual brother."

Artemis visibly sank. However a lump in his throat prevented this in a painful fashion. Artemis decided to ask something else: "If… if you'd… I'd like to ask a different question than one of my remaining two. I'd like to ask… where are we? More specifically, what have you done to me? To Hiccup and Toothless as well if my guess is correct?"

Artemis was deathly pale. Even as scared as he felt now… he was _still_ feeling as if everything was alright, he was _still_ feeling that almost wretched sense of peace. That, coupled with the revelation that it was still impossible to focus on the figures of anyone wearing those masks… Artemis had also noted the term "real illusions" that Dot had just used. All in all, his brain wasn't exactly making the nicest of connections.

"Always one to see the full picture, aren't you, Artemis? Very well, I shall indulge you your extra question. You are currently strapped to my machine. Since we – and here I mean I did so – decoded the language of the brain, I've been using my invention to procure enough time to make my plan work. Simply I created a dream/nightmare scenario inside your own mind, hid the failsafe where none of you might find it, and proceeded in keeping you company just enough to not make it seem suspicious, thereby gathering enough time in the real world to make everything work. Didn't you notice how I was gone for multiple hours a day? Oh, that's _right_, I made it so it was _impossible_ for you to make any sort of meaningful connections as long as I and my subordinates were wearing these masks. They really rock… don't they?" A vampire smile followed this grim confession. Artemis had already decided; no more of that kind of smirk. He'd have to undergo cosmetic surgery or work himself out of that habit… because having it used against you… it was unnerving and downright infuriating.

Hiccup couldn't take it anymore: "So… so it was just _an illusion? YOU WROTE THAT… that…_"

"Your father's grave? Nah, I didn't write that… Hyphen did!" If possible Dot's smile got even wider. Hyphen briefly acknowledged his own mention with a quiet snicker that sounded more crazy than anything, but Dot sent a glare at him to silence him.

Dot then continued: "You are all my captives. Even our other brother who will soon be caught. As for what you would want to do now… I don't really care. My plan is nearly complete and though delicate, it is immune to meddling if you don't know what you're looking for. And lo and behold, you didn't ask for what my plan was so too bad, so sad! Now, seize them."

It happened in the blink of an eye. Toothless was being held down by his four legs by Semicolon, Colon, Comma and Hyphen. Hiccup was seized by Space. Artemis just stood looking dumbfounded. Keyword being "looking". In actuality he was connecting pieces as rapidly as possible with all of his mental limiters. Perhaps the mental limiters could harness one mind… but what of three? As a matter of fact, this was exactly true; Dot hadn't accounted for the suspicion to be rooted deeper than in one mind. Therefore, Artemis had noticed Dot's slipup… _failsafe? There is a failsafe!_ Artemis realized their one chance was to find that failsafe.

And as if it was meant to be, another Artemis, one who had ran even before the attack took place, had the exact same thought. The difference was that this Artemis had been listening to three years of rants, bragging, taunts, and all of the by-products of these three, and he was, in this very moment, in the process of flipping the failsafe. Not exactly the most… interesting job (flipping a switch didn't really count as a "heroic" action), but it was nonetheless very much important.

The illusion collapsed.

Ten people flew out of their respective machines that were positioned in a circle. In the middle of the circle sat Dot – only just coming around to consciousness – in a chair that functioned as _his_ machine. Around him sat nine other machines that more resembled some form of demonic solarium than a chair. Dot was apparently the type who liked special treatment; he wasn't getting some machine where you had to lie down, no, he was to get a _chair_.

The machines opened as the illusion broke. Now that they were all awake, Artemis immediately got out of the machine, grabbed Hiccup's hand, as Hiccup was still dizzy, and Toothless had enough presence of his own mind to follow the two. They were heading for a door that was behind their machines.

Artemis noticed two things as he ran for the door. For one, it was now possible to feel that sense of wrongness again. And two, he _did_ now feel that sense of something… wrong permeating the air. Why was it there? Or more accurately why was it _still_ there? But whether or not you looked at it as if it was a good thing or a bad thing, at least Artemis now knew this was reality!

Toothless overtook the two teens easily and smashed open the front door to the room they were in and the three of them ran outside. No one followed them. But that wasn't what the three of them noticed right now.

Hiccup had been running right behind Toothless as he smashed open the door. But now he – as well as the two others he ran with – stopped, frozen in their tracks.

Artemis mind blanked. Reverting back to a week ago… _they had arrived in paradise_… and comparing it with the information his eyes was sending to his brain… it couldn't have been further from the truth. This was no utopia; it was the ultimate dystopia. They weren't standing on an unrecognizable island anymore. They were standing… on a barren island. Old scorch marks were everywhere, ruins and ashes was present all over the place. They had just exited a massive tower – the same futuristic looking lightning tower that Artemis had seen was one of the side buildings to Fowl Manor when they'd arrived in the illusion – but now Artemis realized _where_ they truly were.

It was… Berk. Burned to ground.

Artemis' mind was still blank and yet subconsciously more connections began their symbiotic relationship, giving meaning to what before was unclear. All of the islands… that had previously had those blade-looking buildings had turned into duplicate towers of the one that they had just exited. But the islands that the towers stood on… were no islands. The towers were standing on a massive grid of pipes, so condensed that it left almost no ability to see that the ocean was underneath the grid. In said pipes it was possible to see some kind of dark energy or purple energy running inside as the pipes were see-through.

At the edge of the island was a train station with a black train, with seven black train cars, waiting to take anyone hovering along a set course. A few random signs pointed the train in the right direction, but otherwise there was no need for any tracks or special landscape conditions.

Meanwhile, the horizon… was nearly completely dark. Dark clouds was covering the entirety of the place, making it impossible to see the sun. It seemed as if it could start raining at a moment's notice. Hiccup fell to his knees as he thought of an incredibly depressing thought… _shattered dream of peace_… _it was… real?_

Artemis didn't feel much better at seeing what the world had turned out to be; he saw humanoid robots flying around the distant towers, maintaining them, and he felt sickened at the fact that those had most likely been the inspiration for some of those "inhabitants" in the illusion. Great… did that make it the seventeenth time he'd been distracted enough to be deceived or the eighteenth… a surge of anger flared in Artemis. This… this was his _own_ fault. And then it hit him… how the hell was Dot still alive? He should be close to a thousand years old! Not counting those… millions of years… but still, his _body_ would be, should be ancient!

Artemis didn't get to think anymore as a voice drawled from behind him: "Yes. The world is different from what you remember, isn't it?"

"Difference doesn't even come close." Artemis droned emotionlessly not even bothering to turn around.

"… did you know that there are less than ten free creatures on the globe currently?"

"… no. But now I know."

"I expected… some kind of reaction… but you are obviously more professional than you appeared before. That was a compliment by the way; I didn't expect my other path to become so… intriguing."

Artemis turned around as did Hiccup and Toothless, the latter two following the conversation with a fair amount of interest. Hiccup was inching closer to Toothless so that they could take off at a moment's notice… they just needed Artemis to get onto Toothless as well…

"What do you expect me to say? We both know that you have the home-field advantage. We both know you have millions of years of experience on me. We both know… that it would be nothing less than impossible for me to defeat you."

Dot was shocked, but quickly smothered his surprise. He was very pleased.

"You've accepted it then. Very good, Artemis. If you would like to…"

"However! I wasn't finished." Dot scowled, but Artemis continued not wanting to leave certain things unsaid. "The number one rule, number one principle, of the Fowl family is that nothing is impossible. Therefore, following that logic, I've just proven that we possess the chance of defeating you!"

Hiccup grinned. "Yeah, you sort of slipped up with that fail-safe earlier! You can do so again!"

Toothless growled his own agreement. Dot didn't look very amused.

"Slip-up? Heh. No, it wasn't a slip-up. It was very much intentional, seeing as our third self was already on his way to activate it. Do you know why I told him of where he could find the fail-safe? Do you know why I did not stop him?"

Silence followed that statement, except a deep booming thunder in the background. A storm was brewing in the darkened sky, but currently, that wasn't important.

"I was trying to procure… a certain amount of information from my prisoner… and torture seemed to be the way to go. And seeing as _you_ said the last time we spoke, feelings are the greatest power, and that statement caused my downfall, I figured they would be _your_ downfall as well. Thinking like that… opposites have always been the best way to shake people. Doing something impossible will shock even the most… open-minded. I simply… adjusted the world into true peace… and then showed you the reality of war."

"You see, there were five World Wars. However, the three wars were not separate entities; they were different powers coming into play! The Third happened to be about oil. The control over the substance of war, led to a war. Ironic, isn't it? … the Fourth was immediately after, as the People decided to "join" the war. The world was unraveling at the edges and nothing seemed to stop the war from destroying everything. So the People decided to show themselves and participate in a massive slaughtering that happened at just about every place in the world."

"The Fifth happened after nearly five years of non-stop war. That was… me and my subordinates leaving our mark upon this world. After that war, after our complete victory, only we remained "free"… and we've now spent 1000 years to complete our plan. My plan. Simply put it hinged on the fact that I would not be disturbed by the outside force known as Simetra. His power… was too… unpredictable to account for so I made it my first priority that I knew how I could induce a powerful illusion that would affect every creature all over the world, if they did not wear a mask such as mine or my assistants."

"It took me nearly a hundred years to decode the language of the brain alone… something that might seem like a short time considering, but I had had thirty million years to ponder… and yet it took me 100 years to complete this relatively simple task! I was stumped. It had only taken me six and a half years to implement my own immortality and yet it took 100 years to achieve a complete documentation of every chemical signal the brain could be capable of? This put things into perspective for me and I realized I had to regain my patience; a mixture of my two powers would be enough to reach my goal."

"Along you came. And everything worked perfectly. Well… almost as there _were_ a few complications. As you saw sometimes there were slip-ups in the illusion. Not only that also there were more subtle hints; magic cannot be replicated through illusions so I would have to rely on psychology to deceive you. Also by giving you a flashy show of technology I could distract you for long enough to not notice that something was wrong… such as the fact that our auras were nonexistent. I also induced a permanent disabling of the instinct of self-preservation so that you felt… safe. A powerful feeling to harness, but I hadn't spent all that time sitting on my thumbs. I also used some of your own imagination, when I needed you to feel something specific. Such as fear… it really is quite simple to construct the most fearsome weapons you've seen from your own imaginations… and interestingly they all had a shaky quality instead of the usually stable illusion that should have been… if I didn't know any better I'd say there was some kind of magic link between you. That would be the only way someone could crack my mental suppressants. But no matter."

"It'll all be over in twenty-four hours… so let's try this again: Seize them!"

A veritable army of humanoid robots suddenly burst from the gravel and instantly incapacitated the group currently trying to make the third trial work. It took all of three seconds to take out Artemis and then another five to make Toothless fall in trying to defend Hiccup. Finally another second later, Hiccup also slumped over into unconsciousness.

Dot stared down at the three forms. Smiling at the fact that they had just challenged him – as planned – he couldn't help but wonder how awkward it was to challenge _yourself_… he then spoke out loud to the three unconscious forms, as they were picked up by the robotic army.

"To think that you can't even see the pattern… oh, well, it'll come."

With those words, Dot began getting ready for the next part of the plan.

* * *

Omake 3: Love.

Whatever Artemis had been expecting to happen when he opened his eyes (and he had done a lot of thinking on that subject; no one, especially Artemis Fowl, gave up their own body to be subjected to something as far out as a fusion without thinking it through. While in theory possible, seeing as it had already happened to Hiccup and Simetra, and in a wider perspective it was required to join the circle of the paradox, to accept it was… trying. Artemis had tried to compensate by imagining what was going to happen), he didn't expect what he found.

He was standing in front of a rippling dark curtain. Curiously Artemis tried to touch it, but it was to no avail. The curtain would move away from him as he tried. It was almost like… he had to do something else first? But what? Was he supposed to realize something? Learn a lesson? Jump towards the curtain in a desperate attempt to catch it?

Then Artemis turned around and he suddenly had a few more options. Because standing in front of him – err, floating in front of him – was a person dressed in a tight black leather suit. He was wearing a gas mask with yellow tinted glass, covering his entire face. And he was laughing maniacally.

This wasn't the big problem though. The problem was that Holly (…?) was standing in front of said person looking utterly confused almost as if she didn't even know that she was there.

Suddenly Holly burst out saying: "Hurry… hurry! Make love to me! Snake, I want you!"

Artemis blushed at the second statement… BLUSHED! And immediately fell into instant confusion at the last statement. Who was Snake?

"Argh!" The person behind Holly screamed out, stopping his quiet chuckling. "Wrong tape! No matter… I can still show you I am the most powerful practitioner of psycho kinesis on the planet, err… in your mind!"

Artemis stared. How could he possibly respond to such a statement?

"I will delve into your mind… and I will command you! You will be my puppet! To prove it… I will give you your first order! You… like MEN NOW!"

Artemis instantly felt weird. Dismissing Holly's earlier statement in disgust – make love to a WOMAN! Really? – Artemis immediately began thinking about possible date materia-… wow! Woah, woah, woah, back off!

Artemis tried to fight the influence… "You can't fight it, Artemis! Accept it! Accept it!" … but it was too powerful. What could he do?

And then the answer came to him! He simply had to switch controller.

**Immediately the pressure was relieved. Artemis sighed. That had been too close.**

"Aargh! How did you do that? Did you… you changed planes? How did you do that?"

"**Good question. I think it could have something to do with… this being my **_**mind**_**!"**

"Gah, I will not be deterred… **I will conquer you! Hahahaha! I have changed planes as well!"**

**The pressure returned. Artemis suddenly felt hot all over… and he couldn't… fight it… again!**

_Artemis fell to his knees in effort. This wasn't his day. This really wasn't his day. But he'd escaped again… changed to another plane.  
_

"**That trick… **_won't work twice, Artemis! HAHAHAHA!"_

_Artemis knew it was… over. He suddenly flashed into a mental daydream… of his beloved… Foaly!_

Foaly who was currently programming some random computer, suddenly felt a very cold shiver down his spine. Sinking heavily, he hoped that whoever was causing this strange sensation would never cross his path…

Artemis saw himself running towards Foaly in a flowery field… they took each other's hands… a picturesque view of a scenery of more flower fields was everywhere… bees and birds were singing in the high summer… everything was okay…

Then a voice called out to Artemis shattering the illusion. "Artemis!"

Maybe if Artemis had been strong enough to overcome such mental trauma faster, he wouldn't have broken… but he did. Artemis Fowl the Second was officially brain dead. And the universe reacted promptly by shattering the paradox and nothing had actually happened.

Two memories, one formerly known as Simetra, now accompanied by another known as Dot or Period, were both scowling. What the hell had just happened? Had love just conquered both of them?

* * *

And that marks the end of another chapter. I've come to realize that inspiration is just as fickle as time. This chapter came out… _very_… slowly… as in ten times my usual writing speed, but seeing reviews always makes my day and it pushed me towards actually staying awake for long enough to steal the computer for a few nights! As for future chapters… I only have two exams left (out of 11)! After that I can actually try to get a chapter out on time! Doesn't _that_ sound like an impossible dream… ^_^!


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